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 Chair of the GWP Technical Committee, Dr. Mohamed Ait-Kadi is happy to announce the arrival of three new members on the committee, appointed by the Steering Committee: Mike Young, Nicole Bernex and Dan Tarlock. In addition, Dr Thomas Panella has been appointed as the Asian Development Bank representative.
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.
GWP China addressed issues connected to climate change, flood control and use of rainwater in a workshop held in Baoding, in the Hebei Province, on 26-27 November 2013.
The Water, Climate and Development Programme in the Caribbean has been developed to support water security and climate resilience in Caribbean states as a key part of sustainable regional and national development for economic growth and human security.
The Water, Climate and Development Programme in South Asia was developed to support countries and regional organisations to integrate water security and climate resilience programming at transboundary, national and local levels through policy dialogues and participatory approaches.
The Water, Climate and Development Programme in China has the objective to integrate water security and climate resilience in development planning processes, build climate resilience and support provinces to adapt to a new climate region through increased investment in water security.