Successful launching of the WACDEP programme in Mauritania bringing together key stakeholders for a training cycle on water security, resilient development and adaptation to climate change.

GWP Partner Warsaw University of Life Sciences, together with other partners restores and maintains the wetland in Kampinoski National Park in a LIFE-financed project Kampinos Wetlands.

Water is one of the most basic human needs and is now currently facing multifaceted complexity. From depleted ground aquifers to polluted river, water has been for quite some time under pressures due to urbanization, population growth, industrialization and so forth.

The Slovak Drought Action Plan that includes preventive measures in a number of areas, specifically agriculture and forestry, urban landscape, water management, research and environmental education, is expected to be approved in Spring 2018.

More than 140 decision makers and representatives of government, civil society, international organisations, donors, financing institutions, and the private and banking sector, came together for 3 days sharing experiences and discussing needs, challenges and next steps during the “Conference on Water Governance in MENA and wider Mediterranean region” that was held in Barcelona, on 12-14 December. The Regional Conference was organised under the auspices of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), by two UfM-labelled projects supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), namely the Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector project led by GWP-Med, and the Regional Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme in MENA, led by SIWI UNDP Water Governance Facility. The Conference was organised in close and strategic synergy with the EU-funded Sustainable Water Integrated Management and Horizon 2020 Support Mechanism (SWIM-H2020 SM) regional project.

GWP took part in the COP 23 UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, on 6-17 November, to promote climate change adaptation through water resources management. Various streams of GWP’s work on climate resilience were highlighted, and financing for water was a key component in many discussions.

The 3rd Consultation Workshop on enhancing the potential for Private Sector Participation in Water Infrastructure in Lebanon, with emphasis on the role of Banks was organised in Beirut on the 8th November 2017, as part of the National Policy Dialogue on Water Governance and Financing. The Workshop involved more than 25 targeted representatives of relevant public institutions, private banks, regional organisations and NGOs.

The 6th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region entitled ‘A secure, connected and prospering Danube Region’ took place on 18-19 October 2017 in Budapest and was jointly organised by Hungary, the European Commission and the Danube Transnational Programme.