The Roundtable on Flood Control and Adapting Measures for Economic Development in Flood Plain for Lower Reaches of Yellow River was held on October 23, 2014, in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. The event was organized by GWP China Yellow River and Yellow River Research Association with the support by GWP China. Over 50 participants from Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC), research institutions, Henan and Ningxia Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Offices, universities attended the roundtable. Mr. Zheng Rugang, Secretary General and Coordinator of GWP China Region, gave a welcome speech.
Madagascar held its SADC Water Week on the 3rd, 4th and 5th June at the Ivato Conference Centre in Antananarivo. This event was held in high esteem given the present context in Madagascar. In fact, it has just been about 17 months since Madagascar was welcomed back in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). On Wednesday the 3rd, a joint session was held for media experts and the youth to provide them with some relevant background information on this SADC initiative. The meeting brought together youth from the water sector and beyond, as well as media experts from various ministries, some NGOs, civil societies and academic institutions.
The European rivers Mura, Drava and Danube form a 700 km long “green belt” connecting more than 800,000 ha of highly valuable natural and cultural landscapes in five countries (Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia). This area is a symbol of unity among the countries and is planned to become a protected Transboundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve “Mura-Drava-Danube” (TBR MDD).
According to the Johannesburg Declaration (2002), the ultimate goal of the activities of Central Asia and Caucasus Partnership Network is to support and assist the countries in implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development and Millennium Development Goals. This process must be accompanied by public involvement in decision-making, support for the political will for cooperation between sectors and countries, initiating dialogue among all stakeholders and supporting practical activities locally implemented including capacity building.
GWP Eastern Africa draws its annual action plans from GWP’s priorities as reflected in the strategy and local contexts and needs. Aligning global water and climate resilience aspirations as reflected in GWP’s strategic goals with regional, national and local needs through vertical and horizontal consultations (policy dialogue & community meetings) ensures effectiveness, responsiveness and coherence in terms of desired change in water resource resources management policies, practices and mindset at all levels.
Climate change is expected to severely affect water resources in the low-lying part of the Netherlands. It was decided to take an integrated approach and a process was set up in which all parties claiming space in the area were invited to discuss the water issues. The key insight from this case is the additional water needs can be integrated in the spatial planning through an open planning process.
Climate change and the increasing number of competing water users have led to the overexploitation of the Pangani river basin resources. Action has been taken to establishing environmental, economic and social implications of different river flow scenarios under expected climatic conditions. This helped to prioritize the allocation of water resources to meet basic human needs and those of ecosystems. The main lesson learnt was that providing a platform for dialogue between key stakeholders and increasing knowledge about the climatic variability and future risk are essential for successful water management solutions.
Creating a site, be it a microsite, regional or rethinking gwp.org should be approached methodically. This section provides some best practices and some very basic tools to help you through this proccess.
In Uganda, the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) provide most drinking water, however, this is predominantly in urban areas. Attempting to improve water provision in rural areas, a programme supported by the World Bank was initiated. The main action taken was to commercialising service delivery through public-private partnerships. Despite being viewed as a great success, this case study highlights that circumstances can change and thus be different from those anticipated during the bidding stage.