The 3rd International Conference “AQUA 2008” on Water Science and Technology with emphasis on water & climate was held on 16 -19 October 2008, Athens, Greece, by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Dpt. of Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, the Association of Greek Chemists, the Mediterranean Information Office for the Environment Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) and the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), under the auspices of the European Association of Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS).
GWP Country Water Partnerships met November 6 to start work on a road map for an initiative between the GWP Water, Climate and Development Programme for Africa (WACDEP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Nile Basin Initiative. Participants agreed that WACDEP will be implemented as a joint programme with the UNEP climate change adaptation project on the Nile Basin. GWP Eastern Africa is supporting UNEP to build stakeholder capacities.
To inspire Caribbean journalists to report more on water, GWP Caribbean launched its first annual Media Awards on Water on 5 March 2012. The winner is Mr. Shane Hubbard, an Editor and Videographer from CNS TV6 in Guyana who produced a television piece under the theme “Water and Food Security”.
The Challenge Programme for Water and Food (CPWF) research in the Volta basin has been developed to respond to challenges in the river basin of “improving rainwater and small reservoir management to contribute to poverty reduction, and improved livelihoods resilience in Burkina Faso and Northern Ghana while taking account of implications for downstream water users including ecosystem services”.
GWP has joined the Sanitation and Water for All initiative as a Multilateral Partner, together with other GWP Partner organizations. Sanitation and Water for All aims to address the barriers to achieving universal and sustainable sanitation and drinking water for everyone, including poor water resources management.
Water and its management is becoming not just a local but a global priority. The UN Rio+20 Declaration emphasises the need to establish a green economy as the means to achieving sustainable development while protecting and improving the world’s natural resources. Water is increasingly seen as a central plank of the green economy. It is embedded in all aspects of development – food security, health, and poverty reduction – and in sustaining economic growth in agriculture, industry, and energy generation.
One thing became clear at the Doha climate negotiations. As governments struggle to reach any agreement on climate mitigation, the urgency and importance of agreement on adaptation is now coming to the fore.
Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) was among various water agencies and stakeholders invited to the Project Launch Workshop of a Regional Water Sector Review being spearheaded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).