Central America is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world with regards to climate change.
Poor domestic and international coordination between South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique has led to conflicts over the water utilisation of the Komati River basin. Despite these challenges, action has been taken to strengthen the institutional and legislative framework. These actions demonstrate that in the contexts involving transboundary water resources, a strong institutional framework can promote political and economic cooperation between riparian states.
In Carabobo State, the urban and agricultural expansions are the main causes of watershed problems resulting from degradation of forests, deforestation and inadequate solid waste management. Since 2009, action has been taken to combat these developments through participatory public policies which focus on environmental education and sustainable development. The key to the success of the project has been extensive capacity building in combination with concrete management tools.
Climate change and the increasing number of competing water users have led to the overexploitation of the Pangani river basin resources. Action has been taken to establishing environmental, economic and social implications of different river flow scenarios under expected climatic conditions. This helped to prioritize the allocation of water resources to meet basic human needs and those of ecosystems. The main lesson learnt was that providing a platform for dialogue between key stakeholders and increasing knowledge about the climatic variability and future risk are essential for successful water management solutions.
A SADC/ UNESCO Workshop aimed to promote Cooperation and Conflict Prevention in Transboundary Water Resources was held at Phakalane Golf Estate Conference Centre, in Gaborone, Botswana from 25-27 February 2013. The 24 workshop participants included staff from SADC, GWPSA, UNESCO and SADC River Basin Organisation representatives. GWPSA was represented by Regional Programme Officer, Mr. Michael Ramaano. The workshop provided a platform for participants to share and exchange sub-regional experiences on water cooperation as well as learn more about designing and conducting negotiation processes on transboundary water-related issues.
At the core of food security is access to healthy food and optimal nutrition. Food access is closely linked to food supply, so food security is dependent on a healthy and sustainable food system. The food system includes the production, processing, distribution, marketing, affordability, and consumption of food.
A regional workshop to review and finalize the project document on the "Dialogue on the Concerted Management of Groundwater in West Africa" was held from 10 to 12 July 2013 in Koudougou, Burkina Faso.
The GWP Central and Eastern Europe's network celebrates the World Water Day with activities for public and water professionals in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia.
Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) with the support of its partner, the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) of The University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus in Barbados, spearheaded the first-ever Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Knowledge Management Workshop to be held in the Caribbean.
To implement policy change is a process that takes time. During this time, it is possible that the people involved change, resulting in a loss of knowledge. In Malawi, action was taken to combat institutional memory loss by involving as many high-level decision-makers as possible and by organising awareness raising workshops. This demonstrates that it is possible to avoid the loss of knowledge when key decision and policy-makers change.