For many businesses, issues of water scarcity are becoming increasingly relevant to their activities, manifested as increased costs or difficulties to obtain water as users compete for rights. To understand water dependencies in time and space, many companies apply the measure of water footprint, estimating water use throughout the value chain. Using this measure can give important insights into variation between countries in terms of how much of the water relates to production.
Water and its management is becoming not just a local but a global priority. The UN Rio+20 Declaration emphasises the need to establish a green economy as the means to achieving sustainable development while protecting and improving the world’s natural resources. Water is increasingly seen as a central plank of the green economy. It is embedded in all aspects of development – food security, health, and poverty reduction – and in sustaining economic growth in agriculture, industry, and energy generation.
New case study on GWP ToolBox presents results of Safe Sanitation, Health and Dignity Project in Romania.
Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Centre and GWP Ukraine organized National Dialogue on Drought Management on 10 December 2013 in Kiev.
Morgan Katati is the Executive Director of the Zambia Institute of Environmental Management (ZIEM), a GWP Partner. Last summer he was one of the recipients of the joint GWP-University of Dundee scholarship, on offer for those interested in international water law and whose institution is a GWP Partner. His expectations were far exceeded, and he tells the story of how his newly gained knowledge resulted in an award for outstanding environmental work.
The regional workshop on “Training needs and gaps assessment on adaptation and resilience to a changing climate in South Asia”, was held successfully in Kathmandu, Nepal from 4-5 September 2013. It was jointly organized by the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) in collaboration with APAN's thematic node for water, Global Water Partnership South Asia (GWP SAS).
In Benin, water use has not been regulated. Furthermore, water management has been sector-based, fragmented and compartmentalised. To change this, action was taken to initiate IWRM in Benin. A baseline study was done followed by drafting of an IWRM action plan. From the experience, the lesson learnt is that advocacy for strengthening political will for supporting the process must be seen as a transversal and on-going action throughout the whole IWRM process.
The Reventazon River Basin has been subjected to severe degradation, mainly through water pollution, leading to proliferation of disease, increased cost of drinking water, and endangered biodiversity. Action was taken by establishing the Committee for the Management and Planning of the Reventazon River Basin working with conservation and land management. The key lesson for success is the importance of the coordination of the different actors that deal with the basin management.