GWP-CAf partners joined GWP partners from across the globe during the October 21 – 22 Annual GWP Network Meeting to brainstorm on how to advance the water security agenda and mobilize water investments to “build back better” post COVID-19.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) had to be postponed until June 2021, but to make up for the postponement, organisers decided to add a 2-day online event, SIWW Online, on 18-19 November 2020.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is holding an online series of climate dialogues from 23 November to 4 December, allowing Parties, observer States and other stakeholders to showcase progress and achievements on climate action in 2020.
On 27 October, Global Water Partnership and Wuhan International Water Law Academy organised an online engagement session based on the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Governance for Transboundary Freshwater Security. The topic was ‘Does the world need more International Water Law?’ The event attracted approximately 100 participants. “One of the most encouraging feedback was a participant who realized ‘we don’t need to be lawyers to work with international water law.’ We tend to think that it is always lawyers who exercise the law, but the law is there to be exercised by anyone,” said GWP’s Yumiko Yasuda after the event.
The International Riversymposium is organised annually by the International RiverFoundation. The 2020 edition is being held virtually for the first time on 9-13 November.
The 2020 GWP Network Meeting concluded on 22 October, with over 900 GWP Partners signed up for the virtual event and others watching the Facebook Live feed. The overall theme was ‘Bringing the Change’ in the context of the GWP 2020-2025 Strategy and as the world faces a pandemic.
GWP-Med is co-organising upcoming events focusing on facilitating investments in the water sector, the role of gender in water diplomacy and mobilizing Young Professionals in the fight to meet the SDGs at Cairo Water Week 2020.
It is often said that one of the only times you should look back, is to see how far you’ve come. This is quite fitting as Ms. Simone Lewis, Regional Coordinator of the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C), celebrates her second anniversary with the organisation.