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What differentiates IWRM from traditional water management approaches is the idea that water security can only be reached if different sectors that use water resources share information and collaborate on management issues. Another major difference is the meaningful involvement of stakeholders in the decision-making and implementation process. Both of these are impossible to achieve without communication. But the more diverse the actors are, the more likely they are to misunderstand each other or to pursue different kinds of interests, and the more communication specifically for conflictive situations might be needed. Communication is fundamental to any kind of success in IWRM.

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.

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. 

The GWP’s annual Consulting Partners Meeting and the Regional Days were held from June 23 to 28 in Port of Spain, the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, sponsored by the GWPO and organized by the GWP Caribbean Region. The delegation of the GWP China was sent to participate in all the events and the discussions.

A joint GIZ, African Union Commission (AUC) and GWP study tour covered the topic of “Water Security and Climate Resilient Development in the German Water Sector” in Berlin in June. The participants were from the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), and the training provided a closer look at effective climate adaptation measures in the German water sector.

The 1st Drin Day was celebrated on 17th of May 2014, in numerous locations across the Drin Basin, from Lake Ohrid till the outlet of the Buna/Bojana River on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, in order to mark the willingness for transboundary cooperation aimed at the protection of the shared water resources and its supporting ecosystems.

Despite an almost abundance of water, most water users in the South-western region of Burkina Faso regularly face water shortages due to an intensification of irrigated agriculture. Action was consequently taken to set up the Local Water Committee. The lesson learnt is that in the realm of the water sector, it is crucial for the state, local authorities, civil society and the private sector to collaborate to find new potential solutions.

Water is a core developmental issue; it affects almost every activity within the wider economy and society, including migration, land use and settlement growth and changes in industrial activity. Consequently, the developments that do not necessarily relate to the water sector per se – for example national energy and food policies – are yet always closely connected to water. Setting goals on water use, protection and conservation, must be based on policies that take into account these various interconnections.

WACDEP CACENA was formulated by Global Water Partnership in Central Asia and Caucasus to initiate development of the regional agenda on climate change adaptation. There is a big differentiation in renewable water resources availability among the countries within the GWP CACENA region. The biggest part of the territory is located in the arid and semi-arid climate, and irrigated agriculture accounts for about 80-90 % of total water use. The most common challenging issues for the Caucasian sub-region are the low access to proper drinking water supply and sanitation, water ecosystems degradation, floods and, in some zones - water scarcity. For Central Asia they are increasing water deficit (droughts in irrigated zones) and water ecosystems degradation. Climate change aggravates all these problems. The programme will provide planning support to governments of CACENA countries for better preparing to climate change and for improving water security.