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The United Nations World Water Day is set for 22 March 2014. This year’s theme is Water and Energy.
Hebei has only met water demand through overdraft of deep groundwater, resulting in the formation of a groundwater overdraft depression. This issue is further exacerbated by saline water intrusion into the groundwater tables. The water administrative department has taken measures accounting for IWRM principles, for example by establishing the Water Users Association to encourage participatory management. The lesson learnt is the value of a participatory approach in management.
The formulation of Zimbabwe’s National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) process that began in 2012 finally came to an end on 15th July, 2014 at a multi stakeholder meeting that brought together 62 participants from different Ministries, partner organisations and other relevant departments. A key milestone of this meeting was the adoption of the NCCRS by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate.
Five (5) Caribbean Ministers with responsibility for water resources management from Barbados, Anguilla, The Commonwealth of Dominica, Nevis and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and five (5) senior ministerial/ government representatives from Saint Kitts, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe and Belize have endorsed recommendations for placing greater value on wastewater in the region and its role in the holistic management of water in Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Due to temporal and spatial variability of rainfalls, Sri Lanka experience local scarcity. Furthermore, most water resources are used for irrigation, and little is left for industry and domestic use. Action was taken towards policy reform but these reforms were, however, nationally desired but externally designed, leading to failure since they did not account for the Sri Lankan context. This case study thus illustrates the crucial importance of national anchoring of policies.
Groundwater depletion is a serious issue in India. The government has approached the issue of declining groundwater levels largely through regulatory means. For the policy to be successful, it is crucial that users understand groundwater occurrence, cycle, and limited availability. Much effort has thus been placed on engaging farmers and communities. This case study demonstrates the importance to work with capacity building and social mobilization rather than physical solutions.
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.
In Carabobo State, the urban and agricultural expansions are the main causes of watershed problems resulting from degradation of forests, deforestation and inadequate solid waste management. Since 2009, action has been taken to combat these developments through participatory public policies which focus on environmental education and sustainable development. The key to the success of the project has been extensive capacity building in combination with concrete management tools.
Poor management and planning during the construction of the Bargi Dam created severe social issues. The affected people took action by coming together forming a Union, making demands for fishing rights and protesting against the complete filling up of the dam. These demands were eventually met. This case illustrates the need for proper dialogue and participation with the affected people during the plan stage of any development projects to prevent problems during execution.