The Central America region is generously endowed with water resources, but concerns are growing about water scarcity in parts of the region. This can mean both a physical lack of water and a lack of mechanisms and actions for effectively managing, allocating, and developing water resources. A new GWP Technical Focus Paper focuses on these issues.
8 March marks International Women’s Day (IWD). The global theme this year is “Planet 50-50: Step It Up for Gender Equality”. It asks governments to make commitments to address the challenges that are holding women and girls back from reaching their full potential.
“Thinking of pastoral care and water policies may sound farfetched for water managers and civil engineers with whom I spend a professional life – but not so. The ways we discuss water policy decisions often closely mirror broader social and ethical decisions.” GWP Technical Committee Chair Jerome Delli Priscoli recently addressed experts from around the world in a workshop at the Pontifical Academy of Science in the Vatican City.
The significance of engaging young people in the design and implementation of policies, plans and standards in Disaster Risk Reduction has been recognized by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. The Youth Forum at the Budapest Water Summit 2016 further showed that young people are unified across disciplines and scales to understand, innovate and adapt to the complex and dynamic nature of the global water system and climate change.
The Norwegian government recently signed a 3-year donor agreement with GWP. Hans Olav Ibrekk represented the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at GWP’s Financing Partners Group meeting in December. He says GWP has a key role to play in developing the required capacity, analytical tools and approaches for decision makers to meet the growing and urgent need of improved water resources management.
/ Central Asia and Caucasus, China, Global, South Asia, Southeast Asia
On January 18, 2017, GWP China and other three Asian Water Partnerships were invited to the 3rd Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Singapore. It was sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) and organized by the Singapore Water Hub.
“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.
GWP’s Financing Partners Group (FPG) and Steering Committee (SC) met in December to consider a range of issues facing the GWP network. One of the highlights was a joint session with both entities which addressed the issue of water diplomacy.
GWP delegates participated in the UN climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco, in November. Even though water is not central to the negotiations, it is getting increasing attention by the UNFCCC and other stakeholders. In this video, GWP delegates share their thoughts:
