To stimulate new thinking to improve Sri Lanka’s natural resources management, the first Young Water Professionals Symposium for the country was organized by GWP Sri Lanka in association with IWMI and Unilever on 22-23 November in Colombo with the participation of the Hon Minister of Water Supply and Drainage Dinesh Gunawardene and Prof Mohan Munasinghe, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2007 (IPCC), and over 150 participants.
To implement policy change is a process that takes time. During this time, it is possible that the people involved change, resulting in a loss of knowledge. In Malawi, action was taken to combat institutional memory loss by involving as many high-level decision-makers as possible and by organising awareness raising workshops. This demonstrates that it is possible to avoid the loss of knowledge when key decision and policy-makers change.
To stimulate new thinking to improve Sri Lanka’s natural resources management, the first Young Water Professionals Symposium for the country was organized by GWP Sri Lanka in association with IWMI and Unilever on 22-23 November in Colombo with the participation of the Hon Minister of Water Supply and Drainage Dinesh Gunawardene and Prof Mohan Munasinghe, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2007 (IPCC), and over 150 participants.
Poor management and planning during the construction of the Bargi Dam created severe social issues. The affected people took action by coming together forming a Union, making demands for fishing rights and protesting against the complete filling up of the dam. These demands were eventually met. This case illustrates the need for proper dialogue and participation with the affected people during the plan stage of any development projects to prevent problems during execution.
The Weihe River plays a central role in Shaanxi. However, rapid economic development has created many problems, including increased water scarcity, pollution and regional ecological environment deterioration. As a response, the Weihe River Basin Integrated Management Plan was developed based on the principles and approaches of IWRM, with the participation of many sectors. The significance of this case is the promotion of public participation and gradual improvement of the market economy system.
President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj of Mongolia visits GWP in Stockholm
Photo: President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj of Mongolia, GWP Chair Dr Letitia A Obeng, and Ambassador to Sweden Dr Baldan Enkhmandakh.
GWP Indonesia workshop on urban water management challenges which was held on 28 November 2012 brought together experts on water management, government officers, NGOs and academia to deliberate on the challenges of water management in urban area with focus on issues related to waste water and drainage in Jakarta, Capital city of Indonesia.
Two back-to-back meetings on water management in Central Asia recently took place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. GWP representatives Natalia Alexeeva and Vadim Sokolov were invited to the regional workshop “Integrated Water Resources Management in Central Asia”, where they presented the IWRM Toolbox and instruments, and gave an overview of the SDG process and the activities of GWP Central Asia and Caucasus.