The management of water resources in Bangladesh involves a centralised, heavy engineering approach in order to control floods and install irrigation, however, there is now a pressing need for ensuring social justice and equity in water resource development. Recognising the role of water in poverty alleviation, action has been taken to implement a 25-year National Water Management Plan. Although this is one important step, it is evident that many issues require more work.
Social equity is the least understood of the 3 E’s (equity, economic efficiency and environmental sustainability) in the concept of integrated water resources management. This new Global Water Partnership Technical Committee Background Paper No. 15, “Social Equity and Integrated Water Resources Management”, sets out an overarching framework for the analysis of equity in the context of water development and management. It is intended as an aid to decision makers in designing policies, interventions, and programs aimed at the equitable distribution of benefits from water resources.
The Global Water Partnership has joined the Nairobi Work Programme, a UNFCCC initiative to assist countries to:
GWP Indonesia workshop on urban water management challenges which was held on 28 November 2012 brought together experts on water management, government officers, NGOs and academia to deliberate on the challenges of water management in urban area with focus on issues related to waste water and drainage in Jakarta, Capital city of Indonesia.
In August, sixteen (16) lecturers and researchers from universities across the globe gathered in Stockholm, Sweden for the first Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Knowledge Centres workshop.
To enable countries of West Africa to improve the coordination of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), Coastal zones (ICZM), but also taking into account linkages between basins and coastal areas and the linkage between ecosystem-based, land use and water resources management, a regional workshop on climate change and IWRM in West Africa was organized.
Government Ministers with responsibility for water in the Caribbean are scheduled to meet at the 7th Annual High Level Session (HLS) Ministerial Forum on October 6th and 7th, 2011 in Guadeloupe. The HLS is convened annually by the Global Water Partnership Caribbean in collaboration with the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA).
At the request of the countries, a mission from GWP West Africa visited Gambia and Sierra Leone 19-28 September 2011, to follow up on the will expressed in 2009, during the development process of the IWRM roadmap, to set up GWP Country Water Partnerships. Exchanges on the importance of transboundary waters and their management mechanisms such as the UN Convention on International Water Courses were also discussed.
GWP Mediterranean is a Consortium Member and the Technical Director of the regional technical assistance project Sustainable Water Integrated Management – Support Mechanism (SWIM-SM) that was launched by the European Commission in December 2010 to promote the extensive dissemination of sustainable water management policies and practices in the Mediterranean. SWIM-SM Partner countries are Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the occupied Palestinian territory, Syria and Tunisia. As a Technical Director, GWP Mediterranean oversees all activities and contributes technically to the implementation of the project.