Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe releases today a new publication Guidelines on Natural Small Water Retention Measures.
14 April 2014, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Climate change adaptation is the focus of high-level regional training and knowledge exchange in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this month. African government ministerial representatives from more than 30 least developed African countries are meeting to consider National Adaptation Plan (NAP)require-ments, which aim to address the long–term climate change challenges for Africa.
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.
Initial success resulted in the joint forest management strategy in Sukhomajiri being expanded. Unfortunately the successes of the original project were not replicated and the scaling-up efforts ended in rapid siltation. This has led to a discussion of possible IWRM implementation in the area. The key lesson learnt from this case is the importance of community involvement for successful community activity implementation.
After some devastating floods in the Yangtze, the Chinese government took action and issued a policy to counter floods, including wetland restoration. WWF further assisted and developed four pilot sites to demonstrate the benefits of wetland restoration for biodiversity, and to seek alternative income options for farmers, based on the sustainable use of wetlands. This case illustrates the value of a participatory approach.
Mongolia was recently established as a GWP Country Water Partnership (CWP). Professor Davaa Basandorj is the Executive Director of the new CWP. He says that the biggest water problem in Mongolia is water shortage, and that the water management in the country has to be improved.
The Upper Veda Project involves a dam that would submerge 14 villages. Opposing the project, the affected communities took action and urged for alternative solutions. The dam was eventually constructed, but the process was characterised by conflicts between the project authorities and the communities. This case illustrates that dam projects, which directly affect the livelihoods of large numbers of people, need to have developed a well defined rehabilitation plan prior to construction.
The 2014 Global Water Partnership (GWP) Consulting Partners Meeting which was held on June 27th and 28th, 2014 in Trinidad closed with an Annual Lecture entitled “Climate and Water: Global to Local Caribbean Socio-Economic Climate Change Scenarios” which was delivered by Professor John B.R. Agard.
The Global Water Partnership is among the organising stakeholders
The Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources at the United Nations University, and the Technical University of Dresden, along with the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, are organizing the Dresden Nexus Conference between 25-27 March 2015, in Dresden, Germany.