GWP Guatemala was invited to participate in the Water Cabinet created by the President of Guatemala in August 2008. The Cabinet represents a national effort to promote IWRM at the highest levels and is coordinated by the country’s vice-president and made up of ten ministers.
The Panama Canal, the 77 km long canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is a key conduit for international maritime trade. In light of the decision to widen the canal, improvements in how the canal basin is managed has taken on increasing importance.
Representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) met in New Delhi on 2-3 November 2009 to review past cooperation activities and to set a new framework for future collaborative work.
The Eritrean Country Water Partnership has played an important role in the planning process of the Eritrean IWRM plan, which started at the end of 2005.
The 4th Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water failed to adopt a comprehensive and urgently needed Strategy for Water in the Mediterranean because of a failure to compromise on the wording of two key political issues: the reference or not to ‘occupied territories’ and the reference or not to the UN Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.
Outdated legislation and ageing infrastructure in Grenada need to be addressed to meet rising demand for water and sewage services, and boost inadequate revenues.
In Benin, four years of lobbying and workshops culminated in the adoption by the Government, in July 2009, of a new water policy based on the IWRM approach. GWP Benin led efforts, working with parliamentarians, ministries, civil society, local communities and water user organisations, and establishing a task force. GWP Benin also arranged for consultants to review the first draft of the policy and organised a national workshop to validate the final draft.
Benin in West Africa belongs to the group of Least Developed Countries (LDC) with a low per capita GDP. Its economy is predominantly dependant on subsistence farming (extensive cotton production) and regional trade. The country is drained by a dense hydrographical network made up of seasonal flow rivers and less than 3% of its renewable water resources are currently used.
Representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) met in New Delhi on 2-3 November 2009 to review past cooperation activities and to set a new framework for future collaborative work.