A regional water youth network was created by participants to the recent Youth for Water Conference organised by GWP Central America, Movimiento de Jóvenes por el Agua (Youth Movement for Water, MOJA) and La Ruta del Clima (The Climate Route) and supported by GWP South America, UNICEF-Nicaragua, Reforestamos Mexico, and IUCN.
Watersheds are essential to the livelihoods of humans. A significant portion of a society’s economic gain and overall survival is acquired through the ecosystem goods and services provided by watersheds. Jamaica as a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) has recently been facing increased stress and vulnerability to its water resources.
Bratislava/Sarajevo, 21 September 2015. Iman Maljić from Bosnia and Herzegovina has won the “International Danube Art Master 2015” competition. The winning art work “Black Swan” was chosen from over 600 submissions.
An Expert Task Force of the joint GWP/OECD project “Global Dialogue on Water Security and Sustainable Growth” has presented provisional results of research into the economics of water security. Although still a work in progress, some striking patterns stand out, and the experts believe this could be a game changer in the quest for a dedicated water goal in the post-2015 development agenda, as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be decided upon.
Late September,Water Salon had its first output“Water Salon Insight—Water and Hydropower Development in China” along with media platform “wechat” launched to the public. As the follow-up of the first activity of Water Salon, jointly organized by GWP China, WRI, WWF and IUCN, was completed in April, 2015, Water Salon Insight works as a visible media interacting government, experts and the people to discuss the common interests in water related fields.
18 members of the group called Sidwaya were trained on 13 June 2015 on the site of the drip irrigation demonstration project in Ramitenga. It aimed to enhance the participants' knowledge on technical processes for the production and the methods for the conservation of corn and okra crops. The exchanges took place between participants and trainers on the technical process for the production of each enterprise and the methods of conservation and processing of these products after harvesting.
The capacity needs for youth on IWRM in Lao PDR is strongly needed to advocate the knowledge and skills which they can further support and disseminate among their specific groups in the schools, universities and communities. Youth has more creative ideas and lots of activities related to environmental protection as well as some of water protection – water saving campaign, etc.
Uneven geographical distribution, coupled with pressures from rapid population growth, increased urbanization, industrialization and environmental degradation, is a big challenge to the sustainable development of Uganda’s freshwater resources. However, the policy and institutional framework has advanced over the past two decades in Uganda. The policy and legal reform process started with the introduction of the Water Act (1995) and the Uganda Water Action Plan (1995). Other key policies included the National Water Policy (1999) and the Local Government Act (1997, 2000). A key Lesson learnt is that political support matters in achieving success, as does the nature and logic of the political system. In Uganda, political prioritization of water and poverty was central to progress. The depth and longevity of sector reform relies on political support, which can ebb and flow.