Dr. Beatrice Mosello, from the Overseas Development Institute, shares her experience of the recent Water, Climate Development Programme training workshop in Addis Ababa, and her optimism for the integration of water security and climate resilience into development planning in Africa.
In preparation for the new Water Law in Bulgaria, as well as the EU Water Framework Directive, the watershed council was set up as a pilot to test on-site effective and participatory approaches to river resource management in the Varbitsa River. The key lesson drawn is that participatory, open, citizen-friendly and bottom-up approaches are more efficient than top-down administrative approaches.
The Veluwe Randmeren lakes in the Netherlands were negatively affected by the discharge of phosphates and nitrates from agriculture and household use. Furthermore, increase in population pressure posed further challenges. To address these issues, a group consisting of national and local authorities undertook a project, which gradually increased the water quality. The case study demonstrates the importance of allowing integration among stakeholder groups.
The annual Workshop was held on November 24 and 25, 2014, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province with 80 participants from different provinces and the institutions under the MWR and the NGOs. Ms MA Yilin, the Communications Officer, GWP China, participated in this activity.
The International Land Coalition (ILC), Global Water Partnership (GWP) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has brought together land and water professionals, researchers and policy makers to reflect on the linkages between water and land in the emerging geopolitics of food, and to discuss cases from global, regional, basin, national or local levels, where these linkages were successfully addressed in legal frameworks, policy, and/or practice. The workshop is being held in Pretoria from 15 – 16 June 2015.
Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) implementation team from Rwanda and Burundi resolved to fast-track the implementation activities and fill existing gaps identified in the 2013. The commitment was expressed during a joint review and self-assessment meeting bringing together 21 participants in Kigali, Rwanda November, 8th 2013.
“Mission Water”, the Non Conventional Water Resources Programme in Cyprus, was initiated in 2013 by the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in partnership with the Coca-Cola Foundation and Lanitis Bros (Coca-Cola bottler in Cyprus). The Programme’s activities are implemented in collaboration with the Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus and the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE). The Programme is funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation through a two-year grant (2013-2015) of 400,000 US dollars.
The twin challenges of accessing water and energy for food and agriculture are central to reducing poverty and hunger in Asia. GWP’s latest Technical Focus Paper compares and contrasts the ways in which India and China tackle the challenge of harnessing water resources under growing water scarcity and competing demand. It argues that a global water battle is likely to be focused on Asia.
Egypt’s water resources are severely constrained. This calls for increasing the water use efficiency by improving irrigation management practice, as the agriculture sector is the main user of water resources. To address the issue, an Irrigation Improvement Programme was initiated, including a combination of technical changes and infrastructure investment. The case clearly demonstrates the importance of building appropriate institutional structures in parallel to the introduction of technical changes.
World Water Day is a major event celebrated and observed by the Philippine water sector.
This year’s WWD theme:“International Year of Water Cooperation” was translated into local slogan of “Tubig Para sa Lahat, Lahat Para sa Tubig” (“Water for all, all for Water”) and served as the core message for the celebration participated by multi-stakeholders coming from the government sector, private sector and non-government organizations (NGOs).