An academic training programme in view for mid-career professionals
The Volta River basin remained one of the few unregulated transboundary watercourses in Africa. Action was taken to improve water governance and water management practices. Although this is still in progress, it has resulted in multi-scale participatory governance frameworks for joint management. From this process, it is evident that building a local knowledge base with good data and information systems is important in deciding the most efficient allocation of resources.
The regional workshop on the adoption of the inventory of the types of scientific / technical data to be retained in the Mékrou Project was held in Cotonou from 5 to 7 November 2014. It brought together about thirty participants from the three countries covered by the project (Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger) and partner organizations (GWP, JRC, NBA, etc.).
First workshop of the Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe was held on 15-16 October in Hodrusa Hamre.
Körös/Crisuri transboundary River Basin is in need of more transboundary cooperation and coordination to ensure sustainable management of the resource. To address this, Romania and Hungary jointly developed a strategy for integrated water resources management, aiming to strengthen cooperation. The key lesson is that access to, and management of data is at the core of decision-making in the case of transboundary water management.
Global Water Partnership and the OECD have launched a joint project to establish a Global Dialogue on Water Security and Sustainable Growth. The major output of the cooperation will be a milestone report to be presented at the World Water Forum in 2015 in South Korea.
In Central Asia, water is unevenly distributed with states positioned downstream being placed in a very unfavourable position. The situation is further complicated since the benefits from cooperation are highly asymmetrical. Despite the challenge, the states have taken action and entered into a regional agreement, which attracted the international donor community to engage further. This case illustrates how international initiatives can influence institutional arrangements in transboundary basins.
Climate change is expected to severely affect water resources in the low-lying part of the Netherlands. It was decided to take an integrated approach and a process was set up in which all parties claiming space in the area were invited to discuss the water issues. The key insight from this case is the additional water needs can be integrated in the spatial planning through an open planning process.
South Africa started its internal broad stakeholder engagement process on Water in the Post 2015 Development Agenda earlier this year. The first stakeholder workshop was held in Durban from 19-20 February 2013. A second workshop, was held in Irene, Gauteng on 4th April 2013.