While pollution problems have long been acknowledged in the Okavango Delta, it was the Botswana IWRM-WE Plan project (facilitated by GWP Botswana, led by Botswana's Department of Water Affairs, and funded by UNDP GEF) which brought stakeholders and institutions together to act on the issue. This contrasted with the isolated, ad hoc project and departmental actions that had gone before.
Suriname has taken a major step to manage its water resources by launching the country’s first Water Forum on 12 December 2012. The forum aims to promote an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach as the means of attaining water sustainability, as well as fostering regional and international partnerships with stakeholders sharing a common objective of sustainability.
The winner of the first IRF European River Prize is the Rhine River. The winner was announced at the European River Restoration Conference in Vienna on 12 September 2013. GWP is one of the organisers and financial sponsors of the prize.
As capacity-building support to its Partner organizations, GWP, together with the University of Dundee, will offer scholar-ships for 30 participants to undertake a module in International Water Law, in Dundee 10-21 June 2013.
Deadline for applications: 15 February 2013.
The Murray-Darling Basin was subjected to widespread environmental degradation. In response to this problem, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission was established in January 1988 under the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement, focusing on protecting and improving water quality. The key lesson is that the participatory approach used with its Community Advisory Committee has helped the Commission to be successful in winning and maintaining community interest, involvement and support.
With water scarcity now a serious global concern, agencies involved in water resources management internationally are seeking to work together to promote efficient and sustainable solutions. Recycling and reclaiming water should be a key objective for both agricultural and urban supply, says Global Water Partnership’s Executive Secretary Dr Ania Grobicki in an interview with the magazine "Global - the International Briefing".
Currently, water resources management in irrigation and drought, flood management are effecting greatly by climate change. Learning and disseminating of related information systematically will help facilitate the adjustment of water resources management of responsible agencies in time and responsive to the changing situation. Evidences from climate change on watershed ecosystem are obvious and diversified, for example, irrigated water insufficiency, disasters from floods, landslide, and drought. Data and information about these are available with consulting firms or line agencies. To be more effective in dealing with these problems, local stakeholders and the RBC should have sufficient knowledge to fully and equally participate in the process. Thus the RBC and local stakeholders’ capacity will be strengthened in monitoring of the IWRM, especially in the critical river basins.
“Water is a thread that runs through every development sector. The land and water of Sri Lanka is our oil and our gold… We can no longer afford to make water a sectoral matter. We cannot make it someone else’s business.” These were some of the comments made by Ms Kusum Athukorala, Chair of the Sri Lanka Water Partnership at a felicitation ceremony conducted to honour her achievement on receiving the bi-annual Women in Water Award presented by the International Water Association.