In 2011, GWP El Salvador was one of three networks recognised by the government as allies in the consultative process for the revision of the draft Water Bill and the National Policy on Water and Sanitation.
Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) is an important issue for Central America because of the growing population in the cities and the effects of climate change on urban water resources.
The GWP Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) guided and inspired a National Dialogue between the Burundi Ministry of Water, Environment, Land Management and Urbanism (MEATU) and citizens over the sustainable management of the Cohoha Water Catchment in December 2013.
Global institutions are still in the learning phase when it comes to successfully managing water and energy in an integrated manner as part of the quest for sustainable development. According to World Bank official Daryl Fields, understanding the water-energy nexus is critical for addressing growth and human development, urbanisation and climate change, but many policy-makers are finding it challenging to transform this concept into a reality. Fields, who is also a Technical Committee member of the Global Water Partnership, was speaking at a recent meeting of the GWP Consulting Partners, held in Trinidad for the first time.
The development of hydropower in the Mekong River basin can bring great economic opportunities for Laos. However, since this basin is shared with neighbouring countries, cooperation is crucial. Action was taken and the Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin was signed to coordinate the use of these resources for economic development. For Laos, this has been crucial to their success in regards to the MDGs.
The pivotal role of water cooperation in sustainable development was in focus at a high-level event arranged by the Government of Tajikistan in cooperation with other UN Member States and UN-Water.
GWP Chair Dr Letitia A Obeng participated in the side event ‘The Water We Want: Youth Act for Water’ on 12 October 2012 at the UN General Assembly in New York. The event was a partnership between the Belgian Youth Delegates to the UN and the World Youth Parliament for Water, hosted by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A new case study on GWP ToolBox analyses trans-boundary management of the Dniester River basin.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (ICWC) among Central Asian countries, a Central Asian International Research and Practice Conference took place 20-21 September 2012 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to discuss past experience and future challenges of water cooperation in the region. GWP Central Asia and Caucasus, which celebrated its 10 years at the conference, has been instrumental in regional water cooperation and took active part in the conference.