"The Mékrou Project, which will test and correct our various national tools for integrated management of water resources is a vast field of institutional, technical and technological innovations and scientific research in order to better understand the resource and establish a real sustainable plan for its use." It is in these terms that the Secretary General of the Ministry of Water, Water Facilities and Sanitation of Burkina Faso, Mr. Ali TRAORÉ, spoke at the official launch of the project. He expressed himself on behalf of the Honourable Minister and noted the importance of the new project on March 18, 2014 in Ouagadougou.
GWP SA was invited to join about twenty other stakeholders in a discussion convened by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) Brownbag. The discussion was held on 27th November 2013 to converse food insecurity in Southern Africa. The brown bag represents an effort to engage stakeholders to dialogue in order to address deeper problems – focusing on changing underlying policy, legislation and practice, rather than on short-term welfarest interventions. The discussion was moderated by Masego Madzwamuse, the Economic Justice Programme Manager at OSISA.
The Veluwe Randmeren lakes in the Netherlands were negatively affected by the discharge of phosphates and nitrates from agriculture and household use. Furthermore, increase in population pressure posed further challenges. To address these issues, a group consisting of national and local authorities undertook a project, which gradually increased the water quality. The case study demonstrates the importance of allowing integration among stakeholder groups.
Hungary has joined the Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) in 2013. National organizer of the SJWP is GWP Hungary Foundation in agreement with the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). The patron of the Hungarian competition Mr. János Áder President of the Republic.
The annual Workshop was held on November 24 and 25, 2014, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province with 80 participants from different provinces and the institutions under the MWR and the NGOs. Ms MA Yilin, the Communications Officer, GWP China, participated in this activity.
China Water Risk and China Dialogue release "China's Long March To Drinking Water", a report on the true status of China's urban and rural drinking water in March, 2015.
The International Land Coalition (ILC), Global Water Partnership (GWP) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has brought together land and water professionals, researchers and policy makers to reflect on the linkages between water and land in the emerging geopolitics of food, and to discuss cases from global, regional, basin, national or local levels, where these linkages were successfully addressed in legal frameworks, policy, and/or practice. The workshop is being held in Pretoria from 15 – 16 June 2015.
Madagascar held its SADC Water Week on the 3rd, 4th and 5th June at the Ivato Conference Centre in Antananarivo. This event was held in high esteem given the present context in Madagascar. In fact, it has just been about 17 months since Madagascar was welcomed back in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). On Wednesday the 3rd, a joint session was held for media experts and the youth to provide them with some relevant background information on this SADC initiative. The meeting brought together youth from the water sector and beyond, as well as media experts from various ministries, some NGOs, civil societies and academic institutions.
The twin challenges of accessing water and energy for food and agriculture are central to reducing poverty and hunger in Asia. GWP’s latest Technical Focus Paper compares and contrasts the ways in which India and China tackle the challenge of harnessing water resources under growing water scarcity and competing demand. It argues that a global water battle is likely to be focused on Asia.
Lake Naivasha is an internationally renowned Ramsar site located in the Rift Valley in Kenya. But unlike most other designated wetlands of international importance, the water in Lake Naivasha also anchors a flourishing horticultural industry. The Lake Naivasha Riparian Association (LNRA) was established in 1929 to protect local land owner’s rights. and the LNRA became more strident in trying to balance the impact of the expanding commercial interests surrounding the lake with protecting its environmental integrity.