Located in Central Europe, northwest of Romania, Hungary is a landlocked state bordering Austria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. As such, it has a strategic location astride main land routes between Western Europe and Balkan Peninsula as well as between Ukraine and Mediterranean basin. Hungary has a temperate climate with cold and humid winters and warm summers. The north-south flowing Duna (Danube) and Tisza Rivers divide the country into three large regions.
The Lake Atitlán basin experiences serious problems of water pollution, soil erosion and forest and biodiversity losses. Action was taken to establish the Authority for the Sustainable Management of the Atitlán Basin. However, barriers such as lack of public participation, institutional coordination and investment funds have only ensured limited success. The key lesson learnt is that the main barriers to an integrated management of water resources in the basin are strongly interlinked.
NBDF third forum, Kigali, Rwanda, 26-28 October 2011. GWP participated in the third Nile Basin Development Forum and presented during a panel discussion to prepare recommendations by the Nile Basin Development Forum.
In its efforts to continue building capacity for improved water management in the region, Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) together with its partner, the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) hosted a workshop entitled ‘Water Use Efficiency in the Agriculture Sector’ on November 1st - 3rd, 2011 at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Centre in St. Kitts.
The Botswana Country Water Partnership (BCWP) was launched in October 2003 as a chapter of GWP-SA. The Partnership was established with a mission to promote collaboration and sustainable utilization and management of water resources in Botswana through exchange of knowledge, experience and the practice of IWRM.
To enable countries of West Africa to improve the coordination of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), Coastal zones (ICZM), but also taking into account linkages between basins and coastal areas and the linkage between ecosystem-based, land use and water resources management, a regional workshop on climate change and IWRM in West Africa was organized.
Central America is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, so recognising that water is essential to adaptation is crucial to national and regional strategies. To this end, GWP Central America has contributed to the water component in the Action Plan of the Regional Strategy for Climate Change (ERCC) and organised a regional workshop on water and climate change.
The Africa Water Facility review mission to Burundi has concluded that the IWRM planning process has achieved its purpose and has recommended financial support to implement the plan. The mission also decided to use its experience in Burundi as a building block for other countries in Eastern Africa and transboundary water management.
Coinciding with the 2013 World Water Week in Stockholm, GWP presents three new policy briefs on critical water management issues. The topics are Integrated Urban Water Management, Transboundary Water Cooperation and the Economic Value of a Water Secure World.
The EU Water Framework Directive requires all EU member states to achieve satisfactory water quality of all waters by 2015. Although each country is individually responsible, cooperation over transnational water resources is required. In the Körös/Crisuri river basin, a project was initiated using the expertise and experience of Hungary and Romania, involving all key stakeholders. The key lesson is the importance of public participation.