GWP CACENA Regional Council Meeting was held on 23-25 December 2013 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Regional Council Members considered the following main five items:
- Joining the Country Water Partnership of Mongolia into GWP CACENA network;
- GWP CACENA regional work program and budget for 2014;
- GWP CACENA Calendar of Events for 2014;
- Climate Change Adaptation Program for the period 2013-2015 (funded by GWPO);
- Organizational issues.
Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Centre and GWP Ukraine organized National Dialogue on Drought Management on 10 December 2013 in Kiev.
Groundwater is a critical source of fresh drinking water for the citizens and also supplies irrigated agriculture in Shaanxi Province. Groundwater is also important in sustaining streams, lakes, wetlands, and associated ecosystems. In the meantime , effects of climate change on groundwater resources are closely linked to other global change drivers, including population growth, urbanization and land-use change, coupled with other socio-economic and political trends.
The Mongolian Water Partnership (MWP) has formally decided to apply for GWP membership and create a Country Water Partnership on the national level, and to join the GWP Central Asia and Caucasus region (CACENA).
GWP organised a workshop in partnership with Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, on 5-6 December. The aim was to explore educational needs and find out how GWP’s IWRM ToolBox can benefit present and future water managers in Eastern Africa.
GWP’s Water, Climate and Development Programme for Africa (WACDEP), in collaboration with the UNDP-UNEP led National Adaptation Plan Global Support Programme (NAP-GSP) recently arranged a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop. The topic was the ‘Economics of Adaptation Water Security, and Climate Resilient Development’.
GWP Peru has supported the launch of the country’s national water law translated into five indigenous languages. The initiative aims to democratize the information by making it available to rural and indigenous communities so that they can contribute to national water management.
GWP Myanmar (MmWP) held an open discussion on the needs of water cooperation among water users on 8 November. The aim was to help shape the water resources management in the region.
Morgan Katati is the Executive Director of the Zambia Institute of Environmental Management (ZIEM), a GWP Partner. Last summer he was one of the recipients of the joint GWP-University of Dundee scholarship, on offer for those interested in international water law and whose institution is a GWP Partner. His expectations were far exceeded, and he tells the story of how his newly gained knowledge resulted in an award for outstanding environmental work.