GWP Patron Margaret Catley-Carlson delivered the keynote speech at this year's Asia Development Bank’s (ADB) water conference held October 11-15, 2010 in Manila, Philippines. Her focus was on “cutting through red tape in order to achieve better water security.” The GWP delegation participated in a variety of sessions and gave presentations.
Costa Rica is making progress in expanding access to water supply and sanitation, but the sector faces challenges when it comes to sanitation connections, poor service quality, and low cost recovery.
In September, the Coca Cola Foundation approved funding for the GWP Mediterranean project on ‘Rainwater Harvesting in the Cyclades Islands’. The project aims to contribute to local water security through a pilot installation of more than 10 rainwater harvesting systems in public buildings, training of technicians, and educational activities for local schools.
The Mediterranean lies on the cross road of three continents and it has been the cradle of major civilizations. The shared century-old experiences and diverse cultures have resulted to uneven levels of economic development and socio-political systems.
GWP Romania participated at the Bucharest Business Forum at the World Trade Center, Bucharest, Romania on 18-19 October 2010. The goal was to offer a discussion platform for all stakeholders interested in developing flagship projects within the EU Strategy for Danube Region through Strategic Partnerships at European macro regional level.
Agriculture: the major sector of water consumption
Intensive abstraction for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes has led to depletion of surface and groundwater bodies. Overexploitation of groundwater resources in particular, has led to seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers. Over the last 50 years, water demand for all sectors of activity together has doubled to reach 280 km3/ year in 2007.
GWP membership is open to all organizations involved in water and water resources management. Currently the GWP-SEA network has over 360 member organizations in the 9 Southeast Asia countries; Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippine, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
GWP Executive Secretary Dr Ania Grobicki participated in a meeting of the Integrated Flood Management HelpDesk,with WMO and other Support Base Partners (SBPs) in Geneva on 4 and 5 October - to discuss achievements so far and what can be done in the future. Since the HelpDesk´s launch in June 2009, 26 requests from 14 countries have so far been received, and dealt with in various different ways depending on the level of the request.