“Action on water is an absolute and ethical imperative…Acting now is a matter of human dignity, justice, and survival. Waiting to act is no longer an option.” This was one of the strong messages of the Budapest Water Summit 2016, which took place 28-30 November in Budapest, Hungary. GWP global and GWP Central and Eastern Europe joined forces to represent the network at the event.

A meeting of the Coordination Bureau of the African Network of Basin Organizations (ANBO) and the last meeting of the Steering Committee of the project "Strengthening Transboundary Water Management Institutions (SITWA)" have been held in Dakar, Senegal on 28 and 29 November 2016.

The 2nd Regional Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project “Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector” was organised on 5-6 December 2016, in Tunis, Tunisia, by the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in close collaboration with the H2020 Pollution Reduction & Prevention Investment Group (PRPI) & National Action Plan process. It convened more than 110 decision makers and representatives of government, civil society, international organisations, donors and financing institutions and the private sector.

GWP Slovenia organized an exhibition as a tribute to the most unique international competition that connect art with water – the Danube Art Master.

The GWP Latin American International Water Law Training Programme held a successful VIII edition of a regional workshop with focus on La Plata Basin on 26-29 September. It was attended by 23 participants from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay, most of them from public institutions.

The Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM) and its stakeholders have continued efforts to improve the management of the Zambezi River Basin. A recent activity was an inaugural stakeholder consultation in collaboration with government agencies, academia, other RBOs, and local representatives, which ZAMCOM organised in Windhoek, Namibia from 27-28 September, 2016. The consultation was held under the theme “Enhancing Transboundary Cooperation through Stakeholder Engagement in the Zambezi Basin”. 

The Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med) coordinated the Drin Day 2016, joining forces with the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE), in the framework of the Drin Project and the Act4Drin Project respectively.

The Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) contributed to a key UNESCO handbook on science diplomacy and transboundary water management published in late 2015, focusing on the Orontes River case in Lebanon; this was the outcome of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) project “New technologies for an integrated and sustainable management of natural resources in Lebanon” financially supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The Inception Meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) supported project “Enabling Transboundary Cooperation and Integrated Water Resources Management in the extended Drin River Basin” took place in Tirana, on 16 December 2015, at the presence of Mr. Edmond Panariti, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration, Mr. Ferid Agani, Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning, as well as Mr. Stevo Temelkovski, Deputy Minister of Environment and Physical Planning.

 

The Transboundary Integrated Management Plan for the Buna/Bojana Area (“the Plan”) was presented during a Consultation Meeting on 7 September 2015, in Ulcinj, Montenegro. The Plan was jointly prepared by the Regional Activity Centre for the Priority Actions Programme (PAP/RAC), Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and UNESCO ‐ International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP), in the framework of the GEF UNEP/MAP Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean Large Marine Ecosystem (MedPartnership).