The Upper Mur River is considered as one of the most ecologically valuable rivers of Austria due to the natural reproduction for the Danube salmon. The systematic regulation of the river began at the end of the 19th century, distributaries were cut off and large areas were drained in order to intensify agricultural land use. Restoration measures started in 1997 in the area of the Upper Mur and the “Grenzmur”. Various projects facilitated the renaturation of more than 22 km both in the upper course and the Slovenian border section of the river. A policy issue highlighted by the project is the importance to reconcile key needs for nature conservation with demands for renewable energy generation from small hydro power plants.
The Nile region relies heavily on its groundwater, nevertheless, it is often neglected in national water policies. However, efforts were made to integrate groundwater as an aspect of IWRM, predominantly through a proposal of relevant capacity building actions. These were categorised into three groups: groundwater governance, operational management and, analytical tools to support operational management, illustrating that the main focus should still be devoted on the institutional and regulatory frameworks and management instruments.
Each year, the Global Water Partnership (GWP) holds an Annual Consulting Partners (CP) Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden home of the global Secretariat. The CP Meeting is a consultative approach in which Partners recommend actions to be taken, which is fundamental to the operation of the GWP network, which spans over 2,900 partner organisations in more than 180 countries.
Today water stress is a major concern in many urban areas. The core aspect of urbanisation is the rapid urban population growth together with inadequate planning, pollution, poverty, competing demands on the resource, all contribute to water stress: and consequently the urban water consumption is likely to double by 2025. Climate change is expected to cause significant changes as well in precipitation patterns which will affect the availability of water and induce water related disasters.
The Zimbabwe Water Partnership (ZWP) was formed in May 2000. The Partnership is operating under the vision promoting a “Water Secure Zimbabwe through application of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) Principles”, and its’ mission is to support sustainable development and management of water resources at all levels in the country.
The Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM) is a joint initiative of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP). It promotes the concept of Integrated Flood Management (IFM). The programme has been financially supported by the governments of Japan, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. The APFM is being developed as a series of regional nodes, starting with Central Europe, South America, Central America, Southern Africa and South Asia.
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), the Caribbean Council for Science and Technology (CCST), the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), The University of the West Indies (UWI), the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (TTFC) and Columbus Communications Trinidad Limited (FLOW) have launched the 2nd Caribbean Science and Agriculture Film and Video Competition targeting young professionals. The theme of this year’s competition is “Adding Value to Local Foods.”
The Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) under its Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) has developed a key capacity building resource called the Caribbean Climate Online Risk and Adaptation Tool (CCORAL)-Water initiative.