The Ministers in charge of water of the Member States of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) met on April 6, 2012, in Bangui, to discuss options for the establishment of a regional Water Resources Management Coordination Centre. One of the recommendations of the meeting was that the ECCAS General Secretariat, working together with GWP Central Africa and the Development Bank of Central African States (BDEAC), finalizes the strategic documents for water financing in Central Africa and submits them for adoption by ECCAS Members States.
Despite high water availability in Jamaica, uneven distribution in both time and space creates local scarcity. Hence, it is problematic to distribute water adequately to all sectors, and to develop abstraction points for water treatment. To address the issues, action was taken and a Water Sector Reform was proposed, including a Water Sector Strategy and Action Plan. From this experience, the lesson learned is the importance of coordinating activities and harmonising policies, legislation and institutions.
The most pressing problem facing the Songkhla Lake Basin is land degradation and water pollution caused by land use changes and shrimp farming expansion. Action was taken to combat these issues and an Integrated Environmental Management approach was applied. The key lesson of this case is that replacing blueprint master planning approaches with process oriented planning frameworks increased sustainability significantly.
Elena Fatulova is the new Chair of the Global Water Partnership Slovakia it was announced on 5 April 2012.
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.
Following the Announcement of photo competition "Ubiquitous Water...", on 30 July 2013, CWP-Uzbekistan jointly with GWP CACENA Regional Secretariat and the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan organized the media-tour for journalists.
La Poza micro-basin is experiencing severe environmental degradation, mainly due to unsustainable deforestation practices executed to expand agricultural land. To combat the issues, action was taken to implement IWRM. Throughout the implementation, there has been a high level of community participation facilitated by extensive capacity building and training in environmental management. The primary lesson drawn from this example is the crucial importance of community participation for a successful implementation.
In 2010, the devastating floods in Pakistan directly affected about 20 million people, mostly by destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure. GWP Pakistan is now collaborating with UNESCO to launch a project in cooperation with the Government of Japan that aims to upgrade the flood forecasting and early warning systems of Pakistan, and to conduct risk mapping of flood plains along the Indus River.
GWP Central and Eastern Europe and GWP Slovenia are now able to support water management processes and be involved in activities related to public participation and education through GWP's observer status at the International Sava River Basin Commission.
In 2010, the devastating floods in Pakistan directly affected about 20 million people, mostly by destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure. GWP Pakistan is now collaborating with UNESCO to launch a project in cooperation with the Government of Japan that aims to upgrade the flood forecasting and early warning systems of Pakistan, and to conduct risk mapping of flood plains along the Indus River.