“Mission Water”, the Non Conventional Water Resources Programme in Cyprus, was initiated in 2013 by the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in partnership with the Coca-Cola Foundation and Lanitis Bros (Coca-Cola bottler in Cyprus). The Programme’s activities are implemented in collaboration with the Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus and the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE). The Programme is funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation through a two-year grant (2013-2015) of 400,000 US dollars.
The Danube region is characterised by long-term cooperation. One of the most important agreements was the Danube River Protection Convention, created with an intention of intensifying cooperation in the field of water protection and water use between countries in the Danube basin. Under auspices of this convention, the Joint Danube Survey was launched. This case demonstrates the importance of collecting data to assess how to move forward with any project.
The Global Water Partnership (GWP) Gender Strategy is now available online. The objective of the strategy is to bring gender into the mainstream of GWP’s work, by providing an overarching framework to practice gender- and women-inclusive approaches.
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.
After some devastating floods in the Yangtze, the Chinese government took action and issued a policy to counter floods, including wetland restoration. WWF further assisted and developed four pilot sites to demonstrate the benefits of wetland restoration for biodiversity, and to seek alternative income options for farmers, based on the sustainable use of wetlands. This case illustrates the value of a participatory approach.
According to the Johannesburg Declaration (2002), the ultimate goal of the activities of Central Asia and Caucasus Partnership Network is to support and assist the countries in implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development and Millennium Development Goals. This process must be accompanied by public involvement in decision-making, support for the political will for cooperation between sectors and countries, initiating dialogue among all stakeholders and supporting practical activities locally implemented including capacity building.
The Online Publishing Guide (EWS) is a practical tool that supports the Graphical Policy.