On Tuesday 8 November, GWP Eastern Africa was attending a partners meeting on gendered REDD+ strategies, Norwegian royal embassy, Kampala, Uganda, along with the First Secretary of the royal embassy of Belgium in Uganda, the Development Counsellor of the royal embassy of Denmark in Uganda, the programme director for natural resources of Icelandic International Development Agency in Uganda, the First Secretary of the royal embassy of Norway in Uganda, a representative of the European Union Commission in Uganda, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Bank, Makerere University and International Union for Nature Conservation.
GWP’s Water, Climate, and Development Programme has been formally introduced in Central America. Launch events have taken place in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and there will be events in Guatemala and El Salvador by the end of October.
The Bodrog River Basin is exposed to severe flooding caused by jumbled urbanisation and low connectivity between land (agriculture and forestry), urban and water planning. Management is made more complex by the transboundary nature of the basin. A project was, however initiated to strengthen cooperative management and to mitigate consequences of floods through achieving consistent and holistic management of flood risk in three basin countries. This case illustrates the importance of transboundary flood management.
Toward water security and climate resilience
The WACDEP supports Regional Training Workshops for African Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to advance their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and the Regional Training Workshops on Economics of Adaptation, Water Security and Climate Resilience, Early Warning System of the African Union (AU) and the African Ministries Council on Water (AMCOW), the Global Water Partnership (GWP) in collaboration with UNDP-GEF, CDKN and CapNet will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:
In 2011, GWP Central America published an updated version of the Status of Water Resources in Central America, a compilation of data on water resources in Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. This publication presents advances and challenges in water resources management at country and regional level.
The Gambia officially launched a new Country Water Partnership (CWP) in 2011, joining the other 12 West African CWPs that have been formed since the beginning of GWP's activities in West Africa. Now, all countries in the region except Liberia and Sierra Leone have set up a CWP.
Suriname has taken a major step to manage its water resources by launching the country’s first Water Forum on 12 December 2012. The forum aims to promote an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach as the means of attaining water sustainability, as well as fostering regional and international partnerships with stakeholders sharing a common objective of sustainability.
The EU Water Framework Directive requires all EU member states to achieve satisfactory water quality of all waters by 2015. Although each country is individually responsible, cooperation over transnational water resources is required. In the Körös/Crisuri river basin, a project was initiated using the expertise and experience of Hungary and Romania, involving all key stakeholders. The key lesson is the importance of public participation.