Gaborone, 11th March 2015
The Water Sector of the Southern African Development (SADC) today begins holding of three-day-long SADC National Water Weeks in each Member State to gather input towards the formulation of the fourth phase of the Regional Water Programme.
The farmers in the Volta river basin generally rely on rain-fed agriculture. However, insufficient or irregular rainfall frequently puts farmers at risk of losing their crops. Farmers must have access to a reliable water supply to sustain their livelihoods. In line with the problems highlighted, the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) set out to find ways to strengthen the capacity of the famers, communities and other stake holders in the basin. As a lesson learnt, it is reasonable to expect stakeholders to adopt improved agricultural practices if such new practices are of their own benefit. Experiences show that stakeholders will only participate in innovation platform meetings when they see the value of doing so.
Malaysian Water Partnership, in collaboration with the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (DID), conducted the Stakeholder Forum for Incorporating Climate Resilience in the National Water Resources Policy Action Plans on the 27th and 28th of October 2014. This activity was a response to the launch of Malaysia’s National Water Resources Policy on 24 March 2012 which recognized climate change as an important issue to be addressed in the policy formulation. This forum was attended by 90 people from 40 institutions.
The Regional Training on International Water Law for improved trans-boundary water management in Africa started on 6 June 2016 at Africana Hotel in Kampala, Uganda and was officially opened by Mrs. Florence Adongo, Director of Water Resources Management at the Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment
Interview with Eduard Mesropyan, Director of JINJ Ltd, an Armenian-based private consulting engineering organisation.
Australia implemented a series of reforms to the water sector in the State of Queensland, including the use of a ‘whole of river basin’ strategic plan approach within which local resource operation plans are prepared and implemented. The key lesson learnt is that an incremental approach, with water planning developing in “bite-sized chunks” allowed government to be flexible in response to changing circumstances.
The Local Committees for Water (CLE) are basic links of the institutional framework of Integrated Water Resources Management of Burkina Faso.
The restructuring of the North Massili CLE was made in the context of the implementation of the Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) and in all about ten CLE were set up in 2013 by the Nakanbé Water Agency. The joint diagnosis made during the implementation of the CLE has highlighted a number of shortcomings, including that of weak capacity.
The 7th edition of the World Water Forum, the largest regular interface of the global water community with an outreach to actors outside the water box, will convene on April 12-17, 2015 in the Republic of Korea. The dedicated Mediterranean Cross-Continental Process to coordinate and prepare the regional contribution and key messages for the World Water Forum is co-facilitated by the Mediterranean Water Institute (IME) and the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and steered by a multi-stakeholder Committee involving national and regional water actors.
Lake Naivasha is an internationally renowned Ramsar site located in the Rift Valley in Kenya. But unlike most other designated wetlands of international importance, the water in Lake Naivasha also anchors a flourishing horticultural industry. The Lake Naivasha Riparian Association (LNRA) was established in 1929 to protect local land owner’s rights. and the LNRA became more strident in trying to balance the impact of the expanding commercial interests surrounding the lake with protecting its environmental integrity.