Search

GWP Kyrgyzstan organized a workshop on 22-23 March 2013 in Bishkek for university lecturers to help them understand how to use the GWP IWRM ToolBox in education. Supported by the GWP global secretariat, the workshop was attended by 15 participants, mainly professors of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University and the National Agrarian University in Bishkek, the leading universities in preparing Kyrgyzstan’s water resources graduates.

The Costa Rican government decided to revise its system of water use levy when it became evident that it was disproportionately low. Action was taken by key stakeholders to reconstruct a design of the water use levy to reflect two basic elements of water charge: water use rights and environmental water services. From this experience, the most important lesson is that political will must support legal and technical works when reforming economic instruments.  

International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

Download West African Newsletter on integrated water resources management (IWRM) "Running Water".

Water is a core developmental issue; it affects almost every activity within the wider economy and society, including migration, land use and settlement growth and changes in industrial activity. Consequently, the developments that do not necessarily relate to the water sector per se – for example national energy and food policies – are yet always closely connected to water. Setting goals on water use, protection and conservation, must be based on policies that take into account these various interconnections.

The North-Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS) covers a total area of over one million km2: 700 000 km2 in Algeria, 80 000 km2 in Tunisia and 250 000 km2 in Libya. 

The High-Level Roundtable on Water Resources Management System Development in China was organized by GWP China on April 20, 2012, in Beijing. The meeting aimed at establishing water management mechanisms with well-defined duties, rights and responsibilities, coordination mechanisms for the development of river basins, and facilitating stricter and better water management through the integrated water resources management approach.

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.

Australia implemented a series of reforms to the water sector in the State of Queensland, including the use of a ‘whole of river basin’ strategic plan approach within which local resource operation plans are prepared and implemented. The key lesson learnt is that an incremental approach, with water planning developing in “bite-sized chunks” allowed government to be flexible in response to changing circumstances.