Α Regional Roundtable & a Working Meeting on “Water, Food, Energy and Environment Nexus in South East Europe” were organized by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), in cooperation with the German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters: Learning Exchange and Resources Network (IW:LEARN) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
The World Water Council and the Japan Water Forum invite grass-roots organizations from developing countries to submit their candidatures for the 4th edition of the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize.
The Reventazon River Basin has been subjected to severe degradation, mainly through water pollution, leading to proliferation of disease, increased cost of drinking water, and endangered biodiversity. Action was taken by establishing the Committee for the Management and Planning of the Reventazon River Basin working with conservation and land management. The key lesson for success is the importance of the coordination of the different actors that deal with the basin management.
The national reserve Sur is deteriorating. Action has been taken by NGOs to initiate a project to restore water conditions in the reserve, including the interplay between water and soil. Despite the projects importance, it failed to be implemented due to conflicts with national authorities. This case illustrates the danger of EU initiatives being implemented without an active public involvement since this creates risks of low acceptance of local communities and land owners.
Professor John B.R. Agard held the GWP Annual Lecture at the Consulting Partners Meeting 2014 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, on 28 June. The topic was “Climate Change and Water”.
“One of the key activities of the Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP )program in Rwanda is integrating water security and climate resilience into national development planning and decision-making processes, particularly into budget policy”.
Preliminary planned Project Manager’s trip to the pilot sites at the end of 2013 could not be implemented due to various organizational, financial and visa problems. Starting from the first quarter of 2014 the familiarization with the ongoing work on the program pilot sites began in coordination with the national project teams.
Registration is now open for the 1st African Water Integrity Summit in Lusaka, Zambia. The summit is co-hosted by UNDP-Water Governance Facility, The Water Integrity Network, UNDP/Cap-Net, WaterNet and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). - Register now!
The district of Tikamgarh has faced severe water scarcity. Action was thus taken to implement concrete measures to restore the water bodies in the surrounding area. Together with relevant stakeholders, the district administration initiated and implemented the project. The key lesson to draw from this case is the need for the participation by all relevant groups.
“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.