Regional priorities in groundwater management in West Africa are knowledge; environmental, social and economic aspects; irrigation and climate change; dialogue and communication; management and institutional aspects; and capacity building/improving competence.
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.
A large proportion of Brazil’s population is lacking access to water and sanitation, and development is slow, in particular in rural areas due to lack of funds and political will, but also due to inefficiency in the resources allocation. Action has been taken by the State of Ceará to implement the model called Integrated Rural Water Supply and Sanitation System, illustrating that the most important component of attaining sustainable management is user participation.
The South Asia Regional Workshop on lessons learnt in Strategy Implementation on Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in Water Sector was held on 9 to 10 September 2014 in Colombo, Sri Lanka and it was organised by South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP) in partnership with GWP SAS, and in technical collaboration with UNDP.
GWP SA, on behalf of SADC is currently making preparations for the forthcoming SADC Water Weeks which have been slated from April – October 2014. The SADC Water Weeks are aimed at ensuring that the Regional Water Programme is well understood and embraced by stakeholders from various sectors at the national level. The SADC Water Weeks were last held in the year 2000 and led to the development of the SADC Water Vision for Water, Life and the Environment
A five day regional Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop with objective to “develop the capacity of stakeholders to better appreciate the impacts of climate change on water resources, and the ability to use the IWRM approach as a tool for climate change adaptation” was organized in Kinshasa from 12th -16th May 2014. The training was implemented by the Congo Basin Network for Research and Capacity Building in Water (CB-HYDRONET) with financial and technical support from CAP-NET, WATERNET, the Water and Climate Development Program (WACDEP) in GWP Central Africa and Southern Africa, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), University of Kinshasa and the DRC Ministry of Environment.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat is implementing the SADC Regional Strategic Action Plan on IWRM – III (SADC RSAP III) which is designed to provide a programmatic approach to facilitate the implementation of the Protocol on Shared Watercourses through the application of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). GWP Southern Africa is an implementing partner for SADC providing programmatic support to the implementation of the RSAP III and is providing support to increasing engagement of stakeholders within the Phase III of the Transboundary Water Resources Management Programme.
Public institutions, Civil Society Organizations, Academia, Media and other national stakeholders from Water Sector, Agriculture and Energy discussed about key priority water issues that need to be incorporated in the next development agenda termed as Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).
The area of Zarati river sub basin belongs to important water recharge zones. There is, however, a need to restore the area, which has been susceptible to degradation. Action has been taken in a bottom-up manner, applying Participatory Rural Assessment. Important lessons can be drawn from this in terms of IWRM, as it sets a clear example of active participation of the communities and the local authorities.
A five day regional Training of Trainers workshop with the objective to “developing the capacity of stakeholders to better appreciate the impacts of climate change on water resources, and the ability to use the IWRM approach as a tool for climate change adaptation” was organized in Kinshasa from 12th -16th May 2014.