On October 20, 2010 in Beijing, the WWF Beijing Office released the new book “The Management Practice on Rural Drinking Water Security Project in China” which was jointly edited by WWF and the Rural Drinking Water Safety Center of Ministry of Water Resources (MWR).
The Maltese Islands have limited freshwater resources and depend heavily on desalination. Therefore there is an evident need to mobilise non conventional Water Resources (NCWR) in order to secure water availability and facilitate sustainable development.
Central America has 120 major river basins, of which 23 (36 percent of the regional territory) are shared. In June 2010, GWP Central America and Zamorano International University, Honduras, organised a regional training workshop on how to apply economic and financial instruments such as tariffs, taxes and transfers in shared basins, some of which cross national borders.
The UN climate negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, will be an opportunity to take a sober look at the state of the world’s climate and our collective capacity to respond to the changes which are already visible: more extreme weather events, floods, droughts, glacier melting, polar ice caps shrinking, and sea levels rising, GWP Executive Secretary Dr Ania Grobicki writes in a publication issued for the COP16 delegates (click on link at right).
The Mediterranean region covers 1.75 million kM2. With 446 million inhabitants, accounting for 7% of the world population, Mediterranean is encountering a rapid and unbalanced demographic growth and increased urbanization trends. Increasing poverty in urban centres is directly linked with water and health issues.
At the June 2010 meeting of the African Minister’s Council on Water (AMCOW) GWP's work for advancing the water agenda on the continent was recognised. The AMCOW Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) appreciated GWP's contribution and gave GWP an additional mandate to work in four key areas:
Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) together with representatives from the Projects Unit of the National Institute of Higher Education Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST) had the opportunity to meet with two (2) Women’s Groups in rural Trinidad on October 21st, 2011, to discuss a future renewable energy project to benefit their communities.
The African continent has the highest number of transboundary river basins that collectively cover 64% of Africa’s surface area and contain just over 93% of its surface water resources. These rivers are shared between many countries. While a common water resource is a potential source of conflict, it also has tremendous potential as a driver for economic growth on the African continent where, for example, less than 4% of the available water is utilised, and less than 7% of the hydropower potential is realised.