A report on the GWP Side Event at World Water Day 2011, Cape Town, South Africa
March 22, 2011, STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Today thousands of people mark World Water Day. The annual Stockholm Water Prize laureate will be announced. The official United Nations three-day event will culminate in Cape Town, South Africa. Since the first one in 1993, this day focuses attention on the importance of sustainably managing the world’s freshwater resources.
Since 2007, GWP and the EU Water Initiative Finance Working Group (EUWI-FWG) have worked together to organise workshops across the world to raise awareness and build capacity on financing for water and sanitation.
The new State Water Policy of Rajasthan, the largest state in India by area, puts the emphasis on two components: an integrated water resources management approach and the efficient working of Water User Groups (WUG). During 2010, GWP India with the support of its Northern Zone Water Partner, organized two workshops for the capacity building of NGOs involved in the implementation of the new policy.
The new State Water Policy of Rajasthan, the largest state in India by area, puts the emphasis on two components: an integrated water resources management approach and the efficient working of Water User Groups (WUG). During 2010, GWP India with the support of its Northern Zone Water Partner, organized two workshops for the capacity building of NGOs involved in the implementation of the new policy.
March 8, 2011 - Rising food prices and alarm over climate change was the context for a workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on February 24-25, 2011. How water is managed is central to both issues.
Media Release, March 8, 2011 -- Rising food prices and alarm over climate change was the context for a workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on February 24-25, 2011. How water is managed is central to both issues.
The objective of World Water Day on 22 March 2011 is to focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems. This year’s theme, Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge, aims to spotlight and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to actively engage in addressing the challenges of urban water management.
Media Advisory, February 21, 2011 -- South Asia is among the areas expected to be hardest hit by climate change. Severe flooding in 2007 along the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers affected over 13 million people in Bangladesh; flooding in Pakistan in 2010 severely affected 20 million people. India has likewise suffered numerous events of extreme rainfall, flooding and droughts. In addition the rise of sea level is a real threat to low lying areas in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. And there are the floods going on today in Sri Lanka.
Karachi, one of the world's largest cities with a population of more than 14 million, as with the rest of Pakistan, was severely hit by the floods last summer. The Karachi Water Partnership (KWP), whose founding in 2007 was inspired by the GWP model, has, through the Hisaar Foundation, raised significant funding to address the longer-term issues related to flooding and water management.