The 1st Regional Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector was organised on 28-30 October 2014, in Athens, Greece, by the Global Water Partnership- Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in close collaboration with the EU funded Sustainable Water Integrated Management-Support Mechanism (SWIM-SM) project. It convened more than 110 decision makers; representatives of government; civil society; the private sector; international organisations; donors and financing institutions.
The Expert Task force of the joint GWP/OECD project Global Dialogue has presented initial results of their research into the connection between water security and economic development. Speaking of their preliminary findings at Stockholm World Water Week, Professor David Grey highlighted variability as key in determining the economic impact of water security.
An Expert Task Force of the joint GWP/OECD project “Global Dialogue on Water Security and Sustainable Growth” has presented provisional results of research into the economics of water security. Although still a work in progress, some striking patterns stand out, and the experts believe this could be a game changer in the quest for a dedicated water goal in the post-2015 development agenda, as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be decided upon.
The national Water Policy Dialogue, having engaged more than 100 Tunisian stakeholders within the past year (2013-2014), concluded with the launch of the National Report “Water Governance in Tunisia: Overcoming the Challenges to Private Sector Participation” held on 9 June 2014, in Tunis. The Report is the outcome of the multi-stakeholder Policy Dialogue and includes a diagnostic analysis of the key governance bottlenecks to private sector participation (PSP) in water supply and sanitation services as well as concrete policy recommendations for overcoming them.
The national Report entitled “Water Governance in Jordan: Overcoming the Challenges to Private Sector Participation” was launched during the Third Workshop of the Water Policy Dialogue in Jordan and in the presence of H.E. Basem Telfah, Secretary General of the Ministry for Water and Irrigation, as well as a wide range of stakeholders, including authorities, utilities, donors, civil society and private sector, in Amman, on 4 June 2014.
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are deemed to be some of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. This is in part attributed to sea-level rise, coupled with the small size of these territories amidst growing populations and other development challenges. Of these development challenges, achieving water security remains an enduring issue which will only be further exacerbated by the threat of climate change.