Tourism has placed great pressure on the natural environment of Jamaica. Action was taken through a USAID funded project that aimed to increase water use efficiency and improve environmental management. The key lessons are the value of demonstrating the benefits locally as well as to institutionalise the programme.
“Water is life, but water can also be a threat to life”. This was said by the Permanent Secretary in the former Ministry of Water Resources Development and Management (MWRDM) in a keynote speech read on his behalf at a Catchment and Sub-catchment consultation and action planning workshop. He further highlighted that water resources in Zimbabwe need to be treated with extreme care due to increased scarcity being brought about by the adverse effects of climate change.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Global Water Partnership (GWP) have launched a joint Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) on March 13, 2013, to improve monitoring and prevention of one of the world’s greatest natural hazards.
The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) is an implementing partner for SADC providing programmatic support to the implementation of the RSAP III and is providing support to increasing engagement of stakeholders within the Phase III of the Transboundary Water Resources Management Programme. In the RSAP III, GWP SA is included as an implementing agent in delivering components of the SADC/ GIZ“Mainstreaming Climate Change in the SADC Water Sector”. The programme aims to ensure that more investments are made in the management and development of shared water courses and is being implemented under three work packages, namely:Work Package 1 (WP1) – Increasing and harnessing knowledge for us, Work Package 2 (WP2): Increasing stakeholder involvement; and Work Package 3 (WP3): Increasing Investments.
In this regard, GWPSA is facilitating four studies within the SADC region, under work package 1 – “Increasing and harnessing knowledge for use”, with the following objectives:
GWP is responding to the climate change challenge through the Global Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) which includes a portfolio of programmes and projects aiming to build climate resilience through better water management. The WACDEP programmes and projects are developed by GWP Regional Water Partnerships in collaboration with relevant governments and regional economic development communities:
As part of the two-day Meeting of Regional Partners in Water and Wastewater, the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C), the United Nations Environment Programme, Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit (UNEP-CAR/RCU) and the Global Environment Facility’s Caribbean Regional Fund for Wastewater Management (GEF CReW) partnered to host a special Knowledge Sharing Session on New Tools and Resources for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the Caribbean.
GWP was one of the organizing partners of the Gender, Water & Development Conference held in East London from 3-7 November, 2014. The conference, hosted by the Department of Water and Sanitation, Water Research Commission, African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), Women for Water Partnership and others, attracted over 430 participants from 36 countries. Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss and Dr. Ania Grobicki, GWPs Chairperson and Executive Secretary respectively, both attended the conference and gave presentations on GWP’s commitment to gender mainstreaming.
The “Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme for the MENA Region” was officially labelled under the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) framework, during the Senior Officials of the Member Countries’ Meeting on December 4, 2014 at the headquarters of the UfM Secretariat, in Barcelona.
Water security in many urban areas is under threat due to the stresses of population growth, urbanisation, water pollution, the over-abstraction of groundwater, water-related disasters, and climate change. Current planning and management have proven insufficient to address the challenges of water security. There is a need for a paradigm shift, which was introduced during a GWP workshop attended by more than 200 participants at Asia Water Week on 13 March in Manila, Philippines.