The Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) under its Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Amazon Project, the GEF International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network (IW:LEARN) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) under the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA)-GIZ Caribbean Aqua-Terrestrial Solutions Programme hosted a three-day Knowledge Exchange Workshop on Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) from October 21st – 23rd, 2014 in St. Lucia.
The Municipality of Talcahuano because of rapid urbanisation is subjected to natural resource degradation. Action was taken and a municipal strategy was created, assigning the municipality as the institution in charge of administering and combating natural resource degradation. This case illustrates the appropriateness of the municipal level of government in successfully addressing the recovery of water resources and environmental management.
This is a selection of some of the news in 2014 that featured Global Water Partnership and/or GWP representatives.
Frederik Pischke joined GWP as a Programme Officer in the summer of 2013. He is part of the global GWP secretariat in Stockholm, but Frederik is based in Geneva, Switzerland. He works with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in a unique collaboration between GWP and WMO, with strong focus on floods and droughts. Frederik explains the background.
The Reventazon River Basin has been subjected to severe degradation, mainly through water pollution, leading to proliferation of disease, increased cost of drinking water, and endangered biodiversity. Action was taken by establishing the Committee for the Management and Planning of the Reventazon River Basin working with conservation and land management. The key lesson for success is the importance of the coordination of the different actors that deal with the basin management.
Registration is now open for the 1st African Water Integrity Summit in Lusaka, Zambia. The summit is co-hosted by UNDP-Water Governance Facility, The Water Integrity Network, UNDP/Cap-Net, WaterNet and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). - Register now!
Regional priorities in groundwater management in West Africa are knowledge; environmental, social and economic aspects; irrigation and climate change; dialogue and communication; management and institutional aspects; and capacity building/improving competence.
The management of water resources in Bangladesh involves a centralised, heavy engineering approach in order to control floods and install irrigation, however, there is now a pressing need for ensuring social justice and equity in water resource development. Recognising the role of water in poverty alleviation, action has been taken to implement a 25-year National Water Management Plan. Although this is one important step, it is evident that many issues require more work.
A five day regional Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop with objective to “develop the capacity of stakeholders to better appreciate the impacts of climate change on water resources, and the ability to use the IWRM approach as a tool for climate change adaptation” was organized in Kinshasa from 12th -16th May 2014. The training was implemented by the Congo Basin Network for Research and Capacity Building in Water (CB-HYDRONET) with financial and technical support from CAP-NET, WATERNET, the Water and Climate Development Program (WACDEP) in GWP Central Africa and Southern Africa, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), University of Kinshasa and the DRC Ministry of Environment.