The area of Zarati river sub basin belongs to important water recharge zones. There is, however, a need to restore the area, which has been susceptible to degradation. Action has been taken in a bottom-up manner, applying Participatory Rural Assessment. Important lessons can be drawn from this in terms of IWRM, as it sets a clear example of active participation of the communities and the local authorities.
With critical challenges, such as climate change, the Mediterranean region is even more prone to issues such as water scarcity and extreme weather events, including droughts and floods.
GWP Executive Secretary Dr Ania Grobicki participated in a meeting of the Integrated Flood Management HelpDesk,with WMO and other Support Base Partners (SBPs) in Geneva on 4 and 5 October - to discuss achievements so far and what can be done in the future. Since the HelpDesk´s launch in June 2009, 26 requests from 14 countries have so far been received, and dealt with in various different ways depending on the level of the request.
The Mediterranean region covers 1.75 million kM2. With 446 million inhabitants, accounting for 7% of the world population, Mediterranean is encountering a rapid and unbalanced demographic growth and increased urbanization trends. Increasing poverty in urban centres is directly linked with water and health issues.
GWP Chairperson Letitia A. Obeng, GWP Senior Advisor Alan Hall, and GWP-Technical Committee member Patricia Wouters attended the Department for International Development's (DFID) launch of a New Water and Sanitation Policy for Africa and Asia on October 28 in London.
The solutions of many of the problems caused by climate change are within the sectors of society which manage water. Adaptation to climate change is about water and development – yet the world’s aid to improving water security decreases. Sweden must push to make sure that water issues are not overlooked in the climate change debate – and now or never is what it is all about, write water experts at Sida, UNDP, GWP, UN-Water, Stockholm Water House, and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)
Article published in the Swedish Newspaper Svenska Dagbladet on 3 November 2009,
This is a translation from Swedish.
This article was published in the Swedish Newspaper GöteborgsPosten on 17 August 2009
The annual Global Water Partnership Consulting Partners meeting took place in Stockholm 15-16 August 2009. With a network of more than 2000 partners spanning over 70 countries, a consultative approach in which Partners recommend actions to be taken is essential to the work of GWP.
At the end of the Global Water Partnership’s (GWP) Consulting Partners meeting and the start of the Stockholm World Water Week, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the GWP and the European Water Partnership (EWP).