Situated in the Southeastern Europe by the Black Sea, Romania borders Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine. It has a temperate climate with cold winters, frequently accompanied by snow and sunny summers. In terms of terrain, the central Transylvanian Basin is separated from the Moldavian Plateau on the east by the Eastern Carpathian Mountains and separated from the Walachian Plain on the south by the Transylvanian Alps. Romania has substantial natural reserves, including petroleum (declining reserve), timber, natural gas, coal and iron ore.
A River Basin Management Plan of the Sava river basin is under development, the first attempt in the Southern European region to draft a River Basin Management Plan according to the EU Water Framework Directive. GWP Mediterranean and GWP Central and Eastern Europe have significantly contributed to the stakeholder involvement process related to development of the Plan.
The Technical Report on issues related to water and agriculture in South Asia authored by GWP South Asia was launched recently.
GWP has developed a Policy Brief to emphasise key messages to policy makers at Rio+20:
During the first quarter of 2013, CWP-Benin was busy with the final work (technical and financial reports, project final report; capitalization report) of the Multiannual program to support Water and sanitation sector (PPEA) phase I implemented by CWP-Benin which was completed in December 2012. Similarly, the CWP has also participated actively in the formulation and the launching of phase 2 of the program which will run over three years from 2013 to 2015.
The Caribbean Weather Impacts Group (CARIWIG) is a new initiative setting out to create tools that will enable access to climate change information which are specifically applicable to the Caribbean region. To support the development of the Project, key regional stakeholders including GWP Caribbean, gave input at a Regional Stakeholder Consultation workshop on 6-7 February, 2013 in Jamaica.
The quality of groundwater recharging the Guarani aquifer is threatened in some areas by rapid land-use changes, and locally by rapid urbanisation. Action was taken by the World Bank through a GEF-funded project on the ‘Sustainable Development & Environmental Protection of the Guarani Aquifer’, which included scientific studies, institutional provisions and transboundary groundwater management. This case study reinforces the lesson to ‘think globally but act locally’.
The Inception Meeting of the Preparation Phase of the GEF Project “Enabling Transboundary Cooperation and Integrated Water Resources Management in the Extended Drin River Basin” was organized on the 27th and 28th May 2013 in Tirana, Albania, back to back with the First Meeting of the Parties to Drin Memorandum of Understanding .
GWP CEE is what it is because of its network: over 160 institutional Partners who are committed to the sustainable management of water resources.