Caribbean Ministers with responsibility for water, along with regional water managers and other experts, met to discuss “Water Management Financing in the Caribbean” at the GWP Caribbean and the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association’s (CWWA) 7th Annual High Level Session (HLS) on October 6-7, 2011, in Guadeloupe. One of the major issues at the Ministerial Forum was the need for regional governments to decide whether water utilities are to be run as a social service or a business.
GWP Central Africa supported the Cameroonian Ministry of Economy and Planning to carry out a one-year survey of the proposed site of a deep-water port at Kribi. GWP Central Africa developed a forward-looking planning and decision-support tool to help ensure more efficient land use, to preserve the integrity of the port facilities, and to aid natural resources management and the preservation of vital ecosystems. This work shows how IWRM principles can be put into practice at the local level, as part of a major infrastructure project.
In the Danube hydrographic basin, agricultural practices continue to be the main source of water pollution. A pilot project “Best Agricultural Practices” was initiated focusing on e.g. nutrient management, conservation tillage and manure management. Awareness campaigns were initiated, training and education of farmers were emphasised. The key lesson is that these projects should be complimented by other technical and investment measures.
The objective of World Water Day on 22 March 2011 is to focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems. This year’s theme, Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge, aims to spotlight and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to actively engage in addressing the challenges of urban water management.
At the request of the countries, a mission from GWP West Africa visited Gambia and Sierra Leone 19-28 September 2011, to follow up on the will expressed in 2009, during the development process of the IWRM roadmap, to set up GWP Country Water Partnerships. Exchanges on the importance of transboundary waters and their management mechanisms such as the UN Convention on International Water Courses were also discussed.
Due to increased agricultural irrigation and large scale dam projects, and inappropriate land and water management practices, the water inflow to the Komadugu Yobe Basin has dramatically been reduced. Action has been taken to establish a legal and policy enabling environment, as well as to increase knowledge among the local communities to establish more sustainable behaviour. The main lesson learnt was that although a multi-stakeholder participatory approach is slow, it helped to mobilise partnership.
The climate in Somalia is mainly arid to semi-arid, with an average annual daytime temperature of 27ºC. Somalia is located in an extreme water scarce area, where most of the available water resources exist in rivers shared with neighboring countries and demand for water is increasing due to the population and urban growth.Somalia is lacking, not only easily available water resources, both also the human and financial resources to set up institutions and water infrastructures that are desperately needed.
GWP Chile organized a seminar "Towards an Integrated Water Resources Management” in Santiago on Tuesday, December 13 together with the Faculty of Law at Gabriela Mistral University. The workshop emerged as an initiative from the Diagnosis of Water Resources Management developed by the World Bank and disseminated by the General Water Directorate in June 2011.
Astien groundwater aquifer has been subjected to over-use due to good water quality and over-extraction. To address this, SMETA, a syndicate of local authorities, was established to organise the management of the aquifer. Key lesson learnt is that an organisation like SMETA can prove to be a successful forum for groundwater protection.