“Many activities had been done and showed progress in the past five years, but there are also still remaining a lot of challenges and many IWRM activities need to be done in the coming years. However, the new phase of strategy implementation has to be improved and aligned with national natural resources strategy and other water related sector plans as well as the 8th national socio-economic development plans of the government 2016-2020” said Mr. Thoumma Saluemxay, Deputy Director General of Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The workshop on 26 May 2015 highlighted that The Lao National Water Resources Strategy and Action Plan 2011-2015 implementation and development is very crucial for water sector collaboration among stakeholders in the country since the last five years of review.
The 20th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 20) is held from 1 to 12 December in Lima, Peru. Representatives from GWP are present.
The Expert Task Force of the joint GWP/OECD Global Dialogue project met in Paris in November to evaluate their work on the economics of water security. The report will be finalized in the coming months, before the official version is presented at the World Water Forum in South Korea in April 2015.
Caribbean countries face a number of challenges in maintaining adequate supplies of water for their populations. Challenges range from low annual rainfall levels to inadequate storage, polluted water sources, and poor management of existing water resources.
Water insecurity costs the global economy some US$ 500 billion annually, according to Global Water Partnership (GWP). That figure does not take into account environmental impacts so the total drag on the world economy could be 1% or more of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).