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.
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) tools and training modules developed and tailored for Caribbean stakeholders. These resources are geared toward building climate resilience in the Caribbean water sector.
The GWP network celebrated World Water Day 2015 with a string of events throughout the world, from Central America to China. This a summary of some of the highlights, with links to reports.
“Water is life, but water can also be a threat to life”. This was said by the Permanent Secretary in the former Ministry of Water Resources Development and Management (MWRDM) in a keynote speech read on his behalf at a Catchment and Sub-catchment consultation and action planning workshop. He further highlighted that water resources in Zimbabwe need to be treated with extreme care due to increased scarcity being brought about by the adverse effects of climate change.
Within the framework of the Water, Climate and Development Programme, GWP South America is guiding a pilot initiative to put in practice transectoral cooperation to generate resilience to climate change and water security in the Santa Eulalia sub-basin in Peru.
Frederik Pischke joined GWP as a Programme Officer in the summer of 2013. He is part of the global GWP secretariat in Stockholm, but Frederik is based in Geneva, Switzerland. He works with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in a unique collaboration between GWP and WMO, with strong focus on floods and droughts. Frederik explains the background.
Irrigation infrastructure is crucial for economic development in Fujian. However, due to incomplete water management, the existing water facilities do not satisfy the current development. Action has been taken by the infrastructure department of Fujian provinces to cooperate with local farmers and organisations to explore participatory management and new mechanism of local water management. This case indicates that direct involvement of water users will result in rational use of water resources.
Clearing for logging, combined with expanding agriculture and palm oil plantations has led to increased flooding, and pollution of the Kinabatangan River due to pesticides and fertilizers. Working in partnership, the Sabah Wildlife Department and the WWF took action and have established the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. The key lesson of this case is the value of starting with small-scale feasible projects before scaling up.