“The foundation of the prosperity of nations and regions is water,” observed Yoshirō Mori, former Prime Minister of Japan, on the opening day of the 2022 Asia Pacific Water Summit (APWS), held in the ‘Groundwater Conservation City’ of Kumamoto from 23-24 April.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) and Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA) are implementing the project "Integrating Flood and Drought Management and Early Warning for Climate Change Adaptation in the Volta Basin (VFDM)" funded by the Adaptation Fund. The project activities, which started in June 2019, are ongoing and will be completed by mid-2023.
“Integrated water resources management says it all. We have to talk about the inter-dependencies of water. Water is life, we say, and it really connects to everything … If water is connected to everything, we have to act on that, but we shy away from the real understanding of what water means … either because of its complexity … or because it is connected to past practices and vested interests.”
Over twenty-one multi-stakeholders met in Yaoundé on December 10th, 2021, to analyze the end of phase implementation of Cameroon’s National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NAP) which ran from 2016-2020, to propose guidelines to be considered in the updated, gender transformative NAP.
The Water ChangeMaker Awards was launched during the World Water Week, 22nd March 2020. The submission of an application was opened from 6 April and last until 14 June 2020, after extend-ed for one week. The award aims to make visible the teams and organizations that shape water decisions that build climate resili-ence – and to create and support a community of ChangeMakers who contribute and learn from each other in shaping the lessons learned about how to make positive change happen. The initiative is designed to make sure that everybody will benefit from oppor-tunities to Connect, Collaborate, and to Celebrate.
A GWPSA delegation, led by Executive Secretary Mr. Alex Simalabwi, has met with H.E. Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar, on 9 September 2021 in Zanzibar Town to discuss GWP work in the region.
With over 54 shared river basins in Africa, 15 being in the SADC regions, cooperation in the management and development of transboundary water resources is key to economic growth and integration.
