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Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are deemed to be some of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. This is in part attributed to sea-level rise, coupled with the small size of these territories amidst growing populations and other development challenges. Of these development challenges, achieving water security remains an enduring issue which will only be further exacerbated by the threat of climate change.

On February 27-28, 2013, Global Water Partnership Southern Africa’s (GWPSA) Executive Secretary, Ms Ruth Beukman participated in the Post- 2015 Development Agenda Consultation on Water: Water Resources Management (WRM) and Wastewater Management & Water Quality (WWMWQ). Ms Beukman was invited by UN Water to be a panellist and was sponsored by UNECE to participate. The meeting was sponsored by the Government of Switzerland as part of the Thematic Consultation on Water, coordinated by UN-Water, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

The EU Water Framework Directive requires measures to achieve good status of all waters by 2015. In France, water management is planned at basin-level by state offices and water agencies, but measures are implemented by the local authorities. To meet these requirements, the i-Five project was launched, applying an action research methodology to selected areas. From this study, it is evident that interaction with stakeholders plays a central role. 

“It’s time for participating in the implementation of WACDEP activities in Lake Cyohoha catchment-” Governor tells stakeholders, in Kirundo Province, of Burundi, on the 25th of July 2013.

A South-South Learning Exchange took place in the Asa Wright Nature Centre, Trinidad on 26th June 2014. A first of its kind south-south knowledge exchange between Africa and the Caribbean on water security and climate resilient development was held as a side event during the 2014 Global Water Partnership (GWP) Network and Consulting Partners Meeting, sought to enable lessons and experience sharing across the regions based on initiatives planned and realized under GWP’s global Water, Climate and Development (WACDEP) programme.

Management instruments are specific methods that enable decision makers to make rational and informed choices when it comes to water management and to tailor their actions to specific situations. Good water governance, according to IWRM principles brings together perspectives and knowledge from different domains. Consequently, the instruments presented here are based on a variety of disciplines such as hydrology, hydraulics, environmental sciences, system engineering, legal sciences, sociology, and economics.

The meeting on the project "Green Growth Framework for water security in the Aral Sea Basin was held on 26-28 March 2013 in Seoul, Korea.

Reba Paul from Bangladesh was awarded a scholarship with the International WaterCentre (IWC) in Australia last year. Reba’s scholarship is a collaboration between GWP and IWC – one that will expand to a second scholarship in 2014. As the application deadline approaches, Reba tells her story below.

In order to examine and internalize the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE)’s report on Water for Food Security and Nutrition (FSN), GWPEA facilitated on 11^th August, the Ethiopian national consultation group workshop.

Based on country studies on Local Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (LIKSP) and how they contribute to enhancing climate resilience in each of the 14 countries in the SADC region, Qandelihle Simelane (regional consultant of LIKSP studies) gave a regional summation from country studies undertaken in the region during the 6^th SADC River Basin Organisations (RBOs) Workshop held from the 15^th to the 17^th of October 2014 at Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa under the theme “Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Resilience in Water Related Disasters.”