Press release, 3 June 2010
A number of well known international organisations and research centers join forces to highlight the role of water in the context of climate change. The newly formed alliance, named the Water and Climate Coalition, is officially launched today at a side event at the climate talks in Bonn.
The African continent has the highest number of transboundary river basins that collectively cover 64% of Africa’s surface area and contain just over 93% of its surface water resources. These rivers are shared between many countries. While a common water resource is a potential source of conflict, it also has tremendous potential as a driver for economic growth on the African continent where, for example, less than 4% of the available water is utilised, and less than 7% of the hydropower potential is realised.
In 2013, the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) launched a joint Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) to improve the monitoring and prevention of one of the world’s biggest natural hazards.
Strategic financial planning is a means to assess financing needs and match them to financing sources in a structured way to fill the gap in funds over a period of time based on different future scenarios. An approach to strategic financial planning for the water supply and sanitation sector called FEASIBLE has been developed by the OECD. It was applied with support from the GWP-hosted EUWI-FWG and the ACP-EU Water Facility in Lesotho during 2008-2010.
GWP Eastern Africa has helped the African Development Bank Agricultural Water Management initiative develop tools for agricultural water management, and indicators to measure their effectiveness.
GWP Caribbean offered to assist the Republic of Guyana in managing the country's water resources by developing an IWRM policy and roadmap, with the help of a consultant. Guyana has several existing policies which can be applied to water resources management; however, there is no single National Water Resources Management Policy for the country.
This week in Midrand (9-13 November), South Africa, the Global Water Partnership's five Africa regional offices and its Mediterranean one are working with key allies to translate Africa's commitments on water into action. At the top of the agenda is financing water infrastructure, water supply and sanitation and climate change adaptation.