The Maasai live in an area of Kenya that has no water in the rivers for half a year. To address the water scarcity, the Water for the Maasai project was initiated. In this project, the Maasai, the donor and the NGO work closely to cooperate in the key issues of education, training and long-term guidance. The key lesson is that it takes time to build trust among donors, NGOs and native populations.
Climate Change is expected to have severe impacts on river discharges and water quality and quantity. In an effort to proactively find solutions to the current and future challenges of water, the project Environmental state and sustainable management of Hungarian-Slovakian transboundary groundwater bodies was initiated. The key lesson is the importance of evaluating all resources, including the links between groundwater and surface water.
El Salvador has experienced an increased vulnerability due to Climate Change. To tackle the challenges, an Early Warning System has been installed. This is part of the strategy of the local government to reduce the vulnerability and develop the capacity of the area to deal with floods and landslides. One lesson learnt is that political stability in an area is a great asset when carrying out any political reform.
To extend the reach of the GWP Toolbox on IWRM to university education and training institutions, GWP organized a workshop in Dakar, Senegal on 14-15 May 2013. In total 16 university lecturers and representatives from government agencies in West Africa participated and discussed the role and importance of the Toolbox for providing IWRM knowledge in education and harmonising IWRM curricula in West Africa.
The 2nd High-Level Regional Policy Workshop focusing on “Adapting to Climate Change Induced Water Stress in Nile River Basin,” kicked off in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, Thursday, 4th April 2013.
GWP Chair Dr Letitia A Obeng participated in the side event ‘The Water We Want: Youth Act for Water’ on 12 October 2012 at the UN General Assembly in New York. The event was a partnership between the Belgian Youth Delegates to the UN and the World Youth Parliament for Water, hosted by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
More than ten Government Ministers and senior officials with responsibility for water resources management in the Caribbean will meet at the 8th Annual High Level Session (HLS) Ministerial Forum on Water, to be held in The Bahamas on October 4th and 5th, 2012.
More than 90 participants from 15 European countries, including representatives from GWP Armenia, took part in the 11th European Youth Parliament for Water on “Water Resources Management”, hosted by and inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Armenia on 12-19 May 2013.