GWP-WA and IUCN / PACO Media capacity building Workshop: natural and human imbalances impact on sustainable development in mining areas
Mining in West Africa while contributing to economic and social development of the countries, disrupts the natural and human balance raising questions about the risk it poses to the future life of communities living near mining sites. This is the observation made by a group of journalists from West and central Africa participing in a subregional media capacity building workshop , co-organized by the West and Central Africa Programme of the IUCN (IUCN / PACO) and the Global Water Partnership for West Africa (GWP / WA). The meeting held from 1 to 5 October 2012 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on the theme "Mining and the Protection of environment and natural resources in West Africa.
Due to increased agricultural irrigation and large scale dam projects, and inappropriate land and water management practices, the water inflow to the Komadugu Yobe Basin has dramatically been reduced. Action has been taken to establish a legal and policy enabling environment, as well as to increase knowledge among the local communities to establish more sustainable behaviour. The main lesson learnt was that although a multi-stakeholder participatory approach is slow, it helped to mobilise partnership.
The Senegal River has seen considerable migration of people in view of worsening drought and desertification. Furthermore, it is subjected to threats such as loss of arable land, and pollution from waste. To address the problems and to realise the potential of the basin, the Senegal River Development Organisation was established by three of the riparian states. This case gives important insights into how an institutional and legal infrastructure can be built in stages.
Climate change and the increasing number of competing water users have led to the overexploitation of the Pangani river basin resources. Action has been taken to establishing environmental, economic and social implications of different river flow scenarios under expected climatic conditions. This helped to prioritize the allocation of water resources to meet basic human needs and those of ecosystems. The main lesson learnt was that providing a platform for dialogue between key stakeholders and increasing knowledge about the climatic variability and future risk are essential for successful water management solutions.
GWP CACENA and Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan have announced on 15 June 2013 the photo competition "Ubiquitous Water..." within the Twelfth Republican ecological journalism competition.
The countries in Southern Africa are at very different stages of implementing Integrated Water Resource Management, and have different experiences in this regard. It is, at this point, useful to take stock of the process and to examine opportunities for improved IWRM implementation in the various countries. The GWP SA, supported by the African Development Bank (through the Multi-donor Water Partnership Programme), put in place a project to examine the status of IWRM implementation in southern Africa and to develop recommendations for the way forward. Access the individual country IWRM reports:
The Upper Tisza basin requires international cooperation for its management, recognised through bilateral agreements. To further improve management, action was taken to develop a complex joint flood and water management development plan. This project is being implemented in several stages, ranging from elaboration of methods, description of ecological status to the establishment of environmental objectives to improve the current status. The key lesson is the value of bilateral effort in water management.