GWP Executive Secretary Dr. Ania Grobicki moderated a debate on water and sanitation at the UN General Assembly in New York on 18 February 2014. After the debate was over, Dr. Grobicki said that a global water goal is far from being a done deal.
GWP works with strategic allies on thematic programmes as part of its work to see IWRM implemented in different contexts.
The Pillahuinco basin is located in one of the most productive regions of Argentina. It is within the roads that connect the southernmost parts of the country with the capital and the far north, as well as the Andean provinces of the west with the ports of the Atlantic coast, intersect there. The basin covers a region with a distinct topography, presenting a highland area with elevations between 250 and 650 meters. With a plain that can reach about 125 meters where agricultural activities predominate. The agriculture activities have resulted to environmental problems calling for an approach that can provide solutions to support sustainable development of the basin.
At a time of increasing water demand and the prospect of climate change, the problem of water scarcity in the Mediterranean region and in particular the Greek islands deepens and becomes more critical. Hence, there is an urgent need to enhance water efficiency and to explore further alternatives to ensure water availability using innovative approaches. The revival of traditional water harvesting and management techniques, which have been overlooked in favour of modern technologies, sometimes less sustainable, appears to be one of the most promising alternatives for supplying freshwater in the face of increasing water scarcity and escalating demand.
The Regional Secretariat of GWP Eastern Africa assisted with technical and financial support to a meeting in Mogadishu to launch a Somalia Country Water Partnership on 29th January 2014. As a result of the meeting, Somalia is soon set to join GWP by establishing a Country Water Partnership.
Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, have agreed to establish a strategic partnership to jointly undertake work on climate resilience and WASH. The initial collaboration is for six months, with a potential continuation.
An e-module on IWRM was launched in 2012 after a lengthy a collaboration between several German institutions that had identified a gap in the field of integrated water resources management education. The development of the module continues, with GWP as a potential “catalyst” to generate further interest in the module.
GWP participated in a meeting of the Inter-American Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS) in Lima 2-4 December 2013. The topic was urban water management, and the meeting enabled advances in the elaboration of the IANAS book “Urban water in the Americas”, to be launched later this year.