Five old, hand crafted rainwater storage cisterns located in the villages of Pyrgos, Mesa Gonia and Exo Gonia, were in the focus of a research project recently concluded in Santorini. The project aimed at advancing rainwater harvesting in the island of Santorini, undertaken by the University of Cornell and Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean, with the support of the Municipality and the Water Supply and Sewage Authority of Thera (Santorini).
A validation workshop was held on 19 and 20 February 2015 in Niamey, Niger for the validation of three studies carried out in December 2014. The first one was on the national consultation on the objectives and methodology of the Mekrou project, the second one on the institutional participatory diagnosis and the third one on the assessment of existing capacities and the needs for capacity building for knowlegde management organizations in the country.
The GWP Technical Committee has launched three new Technical Focus Papers and introduced a Background Paper. This took place at an event in Stockholm on 28 August. The event was live streamed and a recording of this will be available shortly.
The Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) is hosting a three (3) day national training workshop in St. Lucia on December 7th – 9th, 2015 entitled “Building Climate Resilience in the Caribbean Water Sector: An Integrated Water Resources Management Approach.”
The First High Level Ministerial Panel on Responding to Climate and Environmental Challenges in South East Europe (SEE) took place on 1st April 2016, in Podgorica, in the framework of the South East Europe Strategy 2020 and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC).
GWP Chair Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss participated in the Sixth Meeting for High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) and the Second UN Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters in New York, USA, in November.
The Matura watershed is located in the eastern region of Trinidad. The major threats to watershed degradation originate from anthropogenic activities that are unsustainably executed. Several mitigation measures were initiated by the regulatory agencies that constantly monitor the watershed as well as the community-based organisation, Nature Seekers.
GWP SA joined approximately 38 other stakeholders on 12-13 March 2014 at the Lombardy Hotel in Pretoria in absorbing discussions that looked at Water Research Impact and Uptake. The workshop was hosted by the Water Resource Commission and the International Water Management Institute, Southern Africa to chiefly explore the complexities and responsibilities of research impact and uptake.
The Water, climate and development programme Lao PDR aims to develop stakeholder analysis and roadmap for capacity development on water security and climate resilience. Series of consultation meetings were conducted from June to September 2014 to gather inputs from stakeholders at national, province and river basin level.
In total 404 people from 55 institutions were involved in the meetings including public, private sector, academia and provinces throughout the country. The main finding from the series of consultations is that the knowledge of local communities in river basin about climate change is still limited. However, most stakeholders consider climate change as a challenge to find appropriate solutions for. Based on the findings, the Lao Water Partnership drafted a National Capacity Building Plan on Water Security for Climate Change Adaptation and Management.
GWP's global secretariat in Stockholm, Sweden, is moving premises. As of 31 March 2014 GWP resides at Linnégatan 87 D, still in central Stockholm.