The Fifth International Yellow River Forum, gathering around 1000 participants from about 60 countries, was held in Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan Province, on 24-28 October, 2012.
GWP Kyrgyzstan organized a workshop on 22-23 March 2013 in Bishkek for university lecturers to help them understand how to use the GWP IWRM ToolBox in education. Supported by the GWP global secretariat, the workshop was attended by 15 participants, mainly professors of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University and the National Agrarian University in Bishkek, the leading universities in preparing Kyrgyzstan’s water resources graduates.
The Goascoran River basin is shared by Honduras and El Salvador and is of great environmental, economical and geopolitical importance. In 2006, action was taken to create a multi-sector instance to integrate, influence and coordinate sustainable management of the shared basin. This experience is of great value for IWRM, as the management group establishes a model of work for transboundary management.
There have been many dialogues and seminars on river pollution in the past 20 years or so. Generally everyone agrees that as a country, we desperately need to do something about the sad state of our rivers, especially when we hope to achieve developed nation status by 2020. However, we have not been successful in translating consensus at these forums into changes on the ground.
GWP-SEA further actions to the global event started with joining in Korean Water Forum.
GWP–SEA Steering Committee met Korea Water Forum in Discovery Suite, Manila,on 12 March 2013, to receive a briefing regarding the program of the 7th World Water Forum which will be held in Daegu-Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea in 2015, and discuss possible areas for playing roles in this important global event.
GWP Chair, Ms. Ursula Schaefer Preuss and the Chair of GWP TEC, Dr. Muhammed Ait Kadi, attended the meeting shortly.
The water resources of The Bahamas are threatened by over-abstraction, misuse and pollution. In the past, water management in the Bahamas has been conducted through a single-sector approach. To address its issues, actions have been taken to move towards IWRM and a multi-sector approach. In particular, attention has been focused on improving stakeholder participation and advancing political commitment. Presently only being partially successful, IWRM implementation in Bahamas highlights that it is a long term process.
Activities such as horticulture and tourism around the Great Barrier Reef create sediment, nutrient and pesticide runoff, placing increased pressure on the ecosystem. The World Wildlife Fund has taken action, predominantly by raising awareness. The key lesson is how a carefully orchestrated campaign can convince decision-makers of the importance of integrated river basin management as a means of reducing land-based marine pollution.
“Although water is central to development, its value is often overlooked. It is thus essential that this national consultation helps to ensure that water is properly reflected in any post-2015 agenda. Moreover water is tied to most development themes – such as food, health, energy. So it is essential to recognize the obvious linkages with these other thematic consultations”
GWP Eastern Africa showcased Water, Climate Development Program (WACDEP) in the the 3nd Annual Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-III), which took place in Ethiopia's capital Addis-Ababa from 20-24th October 2013.