The “Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme for the MENA Region” was officially labelled under the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) framework, during the Senior Officials of the Member Countries’ Meeting on December 4, 2014 at the headquarters of the UfM Secretariat, in Barcelona.
One of our partners, The Network of Asian River Basin Organizations (NARBO), held its 8th IWRM Training in Thulhiriya, SriLanka from 27 November-4 December 2013 to be hosted by Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL). The Training theme is "Enhanced Water Security through IWRM - Mahaweli Experience".
The eight days training program used a mix of participatory and trans-disciplinary case studies which aims to develop the capacity of participants in IWRM Implementation by using the "IWRM Spiral Model" which was introduced as part of the "IWRM Guidelines at River Basin Level" and issued by UNESCO in 2009. 27 Participants from 11 countries includes: Lao PDR, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
A special day session was organized on May 5, 2015 just before the Partners meeting held on 7 and 8 May 2015 in Cotonou, Benin. The session aimed at all the representatives of Country Water Partnerships (CWP) invited for the Assembly of Partners but focused mainly on countries where the three projects are being carried out: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Niger.
GWP Burkina Faso implemented the start-up meeting and first national training workshop on June 16th and 17th to 20th, 2014, respectively in Ouagadougou. The start-up workshop was chaired by the General Secretary of the Ministry of Water, Hydraulic facilities and Sanitation, the Executive Secretary of GWP-West Africa and the Chair of GWP-WACDEP Burkina Faso.
Freshwater is under acute pressure from climate change in North Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, COP20 delegates heard on Wednesday. Experts from countries as diverse as Tunisia and Belize urged visionary leadership from politicians to protect natural resources, reports CDKN’s Mairi Dupar from Lima, Peru. The experts from the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW), Global Water Partnership and CARICOM also called for water managers to build on their local innovations for climate resilience – and to get savvier about communicating solutions to policy-makers. The event was an opportunity to learn about common problems and possible solutions across Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, based on a South-South learning project supported by CDKN.
China is faced with significant costs regarding floods and degradation of ecological conditions in the Yangtze River basin. As a response, the application of Ecosystem Function Conservation Areas approach has been initiated not only to increase water retention capacity and reduce sediment loads, but also to provide benefits in biodiversity, carbon sequestration and sustainable land management. The key lesson is that success is easier to achieve with positive natural and political conditions.
The MENA-OECD Governance Programme would like to announce the launching of the
"Young Mediterranean Leaders Initiative", on the proposal of the European Training Foundation (EFT), and with the support of the European Group for Public Administration and the College of Europe.
Three IDMP CEE initiatives were developed into case studies for ISEPEI.
It is a mandatory trend in China to develop hydropower. The key issues and solutions are concentrating on a sustainable development of hydropower resources with less damage to ecosystem, which can act as a unique part in the development of renewable resources of China as well as in the economic and social progress of river basins and regions.
The Niger River basin is of importance to the region. The Niger Basin Authority was established to foster, promote and co-ordinate studies and programs relating to the Niger River basin. Today the authority is required to promote co-operation among the member countries and to ensure integrated development of its resources. This case illustrates and provides key insights into transboundary river basin management.