Bangkok, Thailand (12/8/2017). Southeast Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate change for several reasons. First and foremost, in many of these countries large portions of the population live in poverty. The proportion of the population living below the poverty line ranges from the lowest in Thailand at 10.2% to 53% in Lao PDR (ADB 2008). The poor are particularly vulnerable to climate change, as they lack the resources necessary for many types of adaptive actions. With its extensive coastlines, Southeast Asia is also home to many millions of people living at low elevations that are at risk from sea level rise. Moreover, ongoing social and environmental challenges in the region – notably growing income inequality, rising food prices, and widespread deforestation – contribute to social vulnerability and make climate change more likely to bring significant harms.

Global Water Partnership (GWP) Africa undertook an inception mission in Madagascar to support the design of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) work on Climate resilience mainstreaming into the water sector and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services in the country aligning it to the country National Adaptation Planning process.

The High Level Panel on Water (HLPW) was set out to raise the profile of water in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), says Dr. Oyun Sanjaasuren, Chair Global Water Partnership Organization (GWPO).

In recognition of the increasing pollution in the Chubachu stream compounded by poor waste management, the National Environment Commission Secretariat in collaboration with the Thimphu Thromde, Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN)/Bhutan Water Partnership (BhWP) and Clean Bhutan decided to adopt and spearhead the cleaning of Chubachu stream. The adoption was launched on 22 March 2017 in observation of the World Water Day, which was followed by a mass cleaning campaign.

Bangladesh hosted the fourth regional consultation on Valuing Water held on 31 July 2017 at the BRAC Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Sixty-three water professionals from Bangladesh, development partners representing World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations, Water Resources Group 2030 (WRG 2030), Embassies and other organisations have actively participated the discussion.

The Pakistan country stakeholder workshop for Sustainable Development Goal 6.5.1 will be held on 20 December 2017 organised by Pakistan Water Partnership (PWP) together with the relevant ministries and appointed Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Focal Point with the collaboration of GWP.

The interdependence between Water, Energy and Food security (WEF) offers opportunities for stronger collaboration among the three sectors, thus increasing the strength of tackling the region’s developmental Agenda leading to the achievement of the SADC Goals of Peace and Stability, Regional Integration, Industrialisation and Poverty Eradication.

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.

Water is a key component of ensuring climate action. A GWP delegation was in Bonn, Germany, to convey this message and raise the profile of water at the UN climate talks, COP23, which took place 6-17 November. Rapid implementation to the Paris Agreement is paramount to battle climate change. Water is integral to build climate resilience and is therefore a crucial component of implementing the Paris Agreement. And GWP is well positioned to help countries deliver on the adaptation components of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

GWP has leveraged its stakeholder network to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reporting process in 30 countries. Together with UN Environment-DHI, the custodian agency of SDG 6.5.1, GWP is convening 30 workshops to collect the official country data for 6.5.1. (Integrated Water Resources Management, IWRM).