“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.”
An International High-Level Panel on Water Investments for Africa, which draws representatives from current and former Heads of State as well as other global leaders, has been launched at the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal.
During an online workshop covering the issues of Gender in natural resources management in the Drin River basin, participants agreed that sustainable development and gender equality areinseperable. However, it was acknowledged that water management and the nexus water-food-energy-ecosystems remain largely a masculine domain. It was finally agreed that for a meaningful analysis and gender-sensitive policy making, institutions and a statistical system that provide gender disaggregated data are needed.
The national sensitization workshop for stakeholders on the flood and drought risk profile in the Volta Basin of Togo held on 23 to 25 May 2022, in Lomé. This was preceded on 9, 10 and 11 May by the Burkina Faso’s national workshop.
The Federal Government of Somalia has made a concerted effort to tackle climate change challenge through a number of policies, strategies and institutional response mechanisms including the establishment of the National Designated Authority (the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change) to officially liaison and communicate with the Green Climate Fund.
The Global Water Leadership Program-Rwanda launched a response strategy aims at strengthening water resilience in Rwanda in the event held on 22 March 2024 at Radisson Blu Kigali. This event, coincided with the celebration of the 2024 World Water Day themed “Leveraging Water for Peace and Prosperity” brought together representatives from various government institutions, international organizations, regional and national institutions.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, through the Commission's Water Resources Management Centre (WRMC), organised from 13 to 15 March 2023 in Lomé, Togo, the Regional Preparatory Concertation for the United Nations (UN) Water Conference of March 2023 and on the Strengthening of West African Cooperation on Water-related Issues
Southern Africa is endowed with a complex network of river systems, which are formed extensively from shared watercourses. 15 of the river basins within the region are shared between one or more countries, 13 of which are shared fully within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Cooperation is needed to promote sustainable management, development, and use of these shared water resources. This was one of the recommendations given during the special session on river basin organisations convened by SADC, OKACOM, and GWPSA on 20 October 2022 at the 23rd WaterNet/ WARFSA/ GWPSA Symposium.
