The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Global Water Partnership (GWP) are increasing their long-standing cooperation to strengthen water resource management at a time when climate change, population shifts and environmental degradation are leading to more stress on water supplies and more water-related hazards.

GWP’s global and regional staff met in Amman, Jordan, on 13-16 May for the network’s annual Regional Days. One of the big agenda items was GWP’s new Strategy 2020-2025, which is due to be launched in July. Other topics were GWP’s 3-year work programmes and finding a common understanding around GWP’s work in convening multi-stakeholder dialogues.

GWP Central America held its annual General Assembly in Costa Rica on April 1, with the participation of 40 partner organisations. The activity was organised as a parallel event during the Latin American Sanitation Conference (LATINOSAN 2019), to integrate partners in the sanitation discussions carried out during the conference.

GWP presents highlights from activities carried out throughout the network in its Annual Report for 2018. The full report is available to be read online or downloaded.

At the Korea Global Adaptation Week on 8-12 April in Songdo, Republic of Korea, GWP launched the publication, “Addressing Water in National Adaptation Plans - Water Supplement to the UNFCCC NAP Technical Guidelines", and explored new and on-going collaboration with key stakeholders.

World Water Day (WWD) is commemorated on 22 March every year. This year’s theme was “Leaving no one behind”. GWP and its Partners worldwide supported the theme by arranging a wide range of activities. A few of the events are highlighted here – with more photos and quotes for the day available on GWP’s Instagram account.

On Monday 8 April 2019, at Korea Global Adaptation Week, GWP launched the publication "Addressing Water in National Adaptation Plans – Water Supplement to the UNFCCC NAP Technical Guidelines". The launch event was co-hosted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and GWP.

“Water resources management is a learning process”, said GWP Executive Secretary Monika Weber-Fahr while on a visit to South America. She spent 26-29 March meeting with representatives of the key water agencies of Argentina and Chile. Both countries are Sponsoring Partners of GWP, and Weber-Fahr’s visits strengthened a close working relationship with the countries.

A national workshop was held in Guatemala on 13-14 February to accelerate the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), as part of a global process to advance the Sustainable Development Goal on water (SDG 6). Guatemala is one of four pilot countries that have begun a government-led process to identify IWRM solutions as a means of advancing progress on the SDGs. This work is carried out through the SDG 6 IWRM Support Programme, which is coordinated by GWP in close collaboration with the UN Environment-DHI Centre and UNDP Cap-Net.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Central America is one of the most vulnerable regions. Effects are reflected in more intense, recurrent and prolonged hydrometeorological phenomena located at opposite ends of the same spectrum: floods and drought, and the Central American Dry Corridor (CSC) is one of those most affected. In addition, it is necessary to consider existing gaps in ecosystem protection, poor resilience of infrastructure and low territorial development. Panama is not part of the CSC, but one of its regions shares similar climatic characteristics - the dry arch of Panama.