A one day workshop brought together around 20 journalists from various media houses and freelance journalists in The Gambia at the end of July. The topic was the ratification process of the 1997 United Nations Watercourses Convention, and how journalists can contribute to this process.
Despite high water availability in Jamaica, uneven distribution in both time and space creates local scarcity. Hence, it is problematic to distribute water adequately to all sectors, and to develop abstraction points for water treatment. To address the issues, action was taken and a Water Sector Reform was proposed, including a Water Sector Strategy and Action Plan. From this experience, the lesson learned is the importance of coordinating activities and harmonising policies, legislation and institutions.
For centuries the Upper Guadiana Basin has been irrigated with groundwater, resulting in a drop in the water table of more than 20 meters. Actions were taken to address this issue, including regulations restricting aquifer abstraction and economic incentives to encourage farmers to improve irrigation efficiency and plant alternative crops. The key lesson learnt is that surface and underground waters cannot be managed separately.
In 2013 Global Water Partnership (GWP) and World Meteorological organization (WMO) launched a joint Integrated Drought Management Programme to improve monitoring and prevention of one of the world’s greatest natural hazards.
GWP China Yellow River, jointly with Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research and Yellow River Research Society, invited stakeholders from governmental organizations and NGOs as well as related experts and practitioners to discuss how to make better practice of integrated river basin management of the Yellow River under the new policies on November 20 and 21, 2013 in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.
China is faced with significant costs regarding floods and degradation of ecological conditions in the Yangtze River basin. As a response, the application of Ecosystem Function Conservation Areas approach has been initiated not only to increase water retention capacity and reduce sediment loads, but also to provide benefits in biodiversity, carbon sequestration and sustainable land management. The key lesson is that success is easier to achieve with positive natural and political conditions.
GWP CACENA and Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan have announced on 15 June 2013 the photo competition "Ubiquitous Water..." within the Twelfth Republican ecological journalism competition.