Water quality is a major issue in Sri Lanka. Pollution and waste dumping contaminate water supplies, leading to serious health impacts for nearby water users. In one of the country’s most serious cases of water pollution, 300,000 people in Gampula were at risk when an epidemic of viral hepatitis broke out; several people died. But GWP Sri Lanka has achieved some results. (In photo: GWP Sri Lanka Chair Kusum Athukorala)
June 14, 2011 — Yesterday a coalition of water advocates organized a side event at a United Nations climate conference to highlight the urgency of recognizing water resources management as central to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
GWP Mediterranean, as the Secretariat of the Mediterranean Component of the EU Water Initiative (MED EUWI), has since since 2005 supported the efforts of the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water towards an Integrated Water Management Planning in the country. Through technical assistance by the MED EUWI and GWP Mediterranean, the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW) aims to put in place a decision support system to examine alternative water development and management strategies to support IWRM Planning.
GWP partners with more than 2,800 registered organisations that share its aims and values in tackling the sustainable development, management, and use of water resources. Partners share information and experiences, and draw on each other for advice and assistance.
Level Roundtable on Strategy of Extreme Climate Adaptation in China was jointly organized by Global Water Partnership China, Asian Development Bank and Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on April 22, 2011 in Beijing with the co-sponsors of UNESCO Office Beijing, UNICEF Office for China, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), WWF Beijing Office, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources and Climate Change Research Center of the Ministry of Water Resources and 130 participants from the key water-related ministries under the State Council, and relevant departments of the Ministry of Water Resources, UN organizations’ offices in China, foreign embassies in Beijing, universities, research institutes and NGOs.
The Challenge Programme for Water and Food (CPWF) research in the Volta basin has been developed to respond to challenges in the river basin of “improving rainwater and small reservoir management to contribute to poverty reduction, and improved livelihoods resilience in Burkina Faso and Northern Ghana while taking account of implications for downstream water users including ecosystem services”.
Cameroon lies between 2° and 13° north latitude and between 8° and 16° east longitude in west central Africa. The country has a total land area of about 475,440 sq. km and a coastline of 402 km and its climate varies with the terrain. This is characterized by high year-round temperatures and the weather is controlled by equatorial and tropical air masses.
The Limpopo basin is located in Southern Africa and covers an area of 416,296 km2, spreading over four countries: Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Rwanda, with an estimated population of over 9 million inhabitants has a surface area of 26,338 sq. km, which makes it the most densely populated country in Africa with about 397 inhabitants/sq. km.