The GWP Technical Committee, in collaboration with the International Land Coalition (ILC) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), organized a workshop on the “Global Food Security Challenge through Coordinated Land and Water Governance”. The event took place 15-16 June in Pretoria, South Africa.
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.
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), the Caribbean Council for Science and Technology (CCST), the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), The University of the West Indies (UWI), the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (TTFC) and Columbus Communications Trinidad Limited (FLOW) have launched the 2nd Caribbean Science and Agriculture Film and Video Competition targeting young professionals. The theme of this year’s competition is “Adding Value to Local Foods.”
In 2014 GWP Philippines carried out advocacy work to promote Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), targeting the youth and local government officials and other concerned stakeholders.
Coinciding with the 12th European Conference EUROPE INBO 2014, on 12 November 2014 GWP Central and Eastern Europe is releasing a new video on Small Water retention measures.
Five partner institutions are organising a joint training on International Water Law (IWL) in Africa. The experiences and lessons learnt will be used as a pilot to develop a 5-year-long (2016-2020) training programme on IWL, with the aim to improve transboundary water management in Africa. Interested candidates are welcome to apply for funded training before 25 June 2015.
In Southern Africa, two countries (Tanzania and Zambia) have been selected for the implementation of the SDG Water Preparedness Facility (SDG Water PF). This selection follows the endorsement of Water as one of the 17 goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015 at the UN General Assembly, GWP is developing the SDG Water Preparedness Facility (SDG Water PF), which is designed to deepen and streamline the vision of water security.
The Expert Task Force of the joint GWP/OECD Global Dialogue project met in Paris in November to evaluate their work on the economics of water security. The report will be finalized in the coming months, before the official version is presented at the World Water Forum in South Korea in April 2015.