The European rivers Mura, Drava and Danube form a 700 km long “green belt” connecting more than 800,000 ha of highly valuable natural and cultural landscapes in five countries (Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia). This area is a symbol of unity among the countries and is planned to become a protected Transboundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve “Mura-Drava-Danube” (TBR MDD).
Encouraged by regional developments, Mali initiated the process to implement IWRM. This was done in three stages: 1) a project team and a Steering Committee were set up to define the management and steering framework of the project, 2) a situation analysis was developed and discussed with broad stakeholder groups and 3) a provisional Action Plan was prepared. This case study illustrates the key moments and events of the process of elaboration of the IWRM.
“Water is a thread that runs through every development sector. The land and water of Sri Lanka is our oil and our gold… We can no longer afford to make water a sectoral matter. We cannot make it someone else’s business.” These were some of the comments made by Ms Kusum Athukorala, Chair of the Sri Lanka Water Partnership at a felicitation ceremony conducted to honour her achievement on receiving the bi-annual Women in Water Award presented by the International Water Association.
“How to reduce the threats of climate change and to make threats into opportunities” was one of questions raised at the high-level side event “Climate Compatible Development for Sustainability and Climate Security”, organized on 21 June 2012 at Rio+20.
Left to right - Mike Ramaano, GWPSA Regional Programme, Permanent Secretary for Special Affairs Office of the President – Mr. T. Musukutwa, & Mr. R. Tekateka, GWPSA Advisor during the WACDEP Zimbabwe launch
The climate in Somalia is mainly arid to semi-arid, with an average annual daytime temperature of 27ºC. Somalia is located in an extreme water scarce area, where most of the available water resources exist in rivers shared with neighboring countries and demand for water is increasing due to the population and urban growth.Somalia is lacking, not only easily available water resources, both also the human and financial resources to set up institutions and water infrastructures that are desperately needed.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat is implementing the SADC Regional Strategic Action Plan on IWRM – III (SADC RSAP III) which is designed to provide a programmatic approach to facilitate the implementation of the Protocol on Shared Watercourses through the application of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). GWP Southern Africa is an implementing partner for SADC providing programmatic support to the implementation of the RSAP III and is providing support to increasing engagement of stakeholders within the Phase III of the Transboundary Water Resources Management Programme.