The United Nations' (UN) World Water Day is held on March 22nd each year to focus attention on critical water issues.
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.
El Salvador has experienced an increased vulnerability due to Climate Change. To tackle the challenges, an Early Warning System has been installed. This is part of the strategy of the local government to reduce the vulnerability and develop the capacity of the area to deal with floods and landslides. One lesson learnt is that political stability in an area is a great asset when carrying out any political reform.
In Chile, water has been privatised. However, in order to make sure that access was still available to all strata of society, the privatisation was accompanied by a robust regulatory framework, including a system of direct subsidies for drinking water consumption and sewage services for low income households. This case thus illustrates that in case of privatisation, a direct subsidiary scheme should be considered.
Myanmar Water Partnership together with Irrigation Department (ID), Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MOAI) of the Government of Union of Myanmar, with sponsorship support from Global Water Partnership - South East Asia (GWP-SEA) held a dialogue on Water-Food-Energy Security as a Major Contributing Constituent for Sustainable National Development in Myanmar.
Collaboration among West African countries has led to the development of IWRM action plans in Togo, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, and IWRM roadmaps in Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone.
Driven by the Water Resource Directorate of the Ministry of Land, Water and Environment, Eritrea initiated IWRM implementation in 2005. Several steps were taken including the drafting of a water situation analysis report, identifying strategic areas and major gaps for IWRM implementation, and completing an IWRM Action Plan. The lesson which should be drawn from this case study is the importance of proper management of the planning process and building capacity for IWRM.
The WACDEP has launched its Young Professional Development Initiative. GWP is calling on Young Professionals in fields related to water management and development, who wish to enhance their professional capacity to express their interest in promoting youth and water engagement through the WACDEP country and regional programmes. Nine (9) Youth Professionals will serve on an internship basis in each of the eight WACDEP countries and in the WACDEP Coordination Unit (CU) in Pretoria, for a period of between six to twelve months.
“Water is fundamental, water unites, water connects. Safeguard and rehabilitate ecosystems and water. There is a need for a dedicated water goal.” These are the major messages from the Budapest Water Statement which was endorsed by the participants at the high-level meeting “Budapest Water Summit” at the closing session on 11 October 2013.
On Tuesday 8 November, GWP Eastern Africa was attending a partners meeting on gendered REDD+ strategies, Norwegian royal embassy, Kampala, Uganda, along with the First Secretary of the royal embassy of Belgium in Uganda, the Development Counsellor of the royal embassy of Denmark in Uganda, the programme director for natural resources of Icelandic International Development Agency in Uganda, the First Secretary of the royal embassy of Norway in Uganda, a representative of the European Union Commission in Uganda, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Bank, Makerere University and International Union for Nature Conservation.