The GWP CEE network celebrated the World Water Day with activities for the public and water professionals in all twelve countries. Most of this year’s events and celebrations of World Water Day were connected to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda. As part of the campaign, on 22 March 2015 GWP Central and Eastern Europe realeased a new video in support of a dedicated water goal.
World Water Day celebration highlihtes
GWP Bulgaria co-organised a national celebration of World Water Day on March 23 at the Scientific-Technical Union of Water Affairs (STUWA) in Sofia, Bulgaria. Among the numerous activities in that day, a congratulation letter on behalf of the Regional coordinator of GWP CEE was read and a presentation on drought scenarios according to IPCC AR5 was given.
World Water Day celebrations in Hungary included a Celebration of the Hungarian Water Utility Association which was held on 20 March, where a representative of GWP Hungary was a special guest and an International WWD swimming competition in Miskolc on 21 March.
On 19th March 2015 in Ukraine a Regional workshop on water resources management dedicated to the World Water Day was organised by the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine. The event brought together more than 50 participants – representatives of River basin departments, science and academia, water practitioners and NGOs.
The main issues discussed were the ways and tasks of water sector development in the context of the Association Agreement between EU and Ukraine, particularly on EU water legislation approximation to Ukrainian legal framework, institutional and organizational tasks, and public participation in the water management according to EU WFD. Anna Tsvietkova, a representative of of GWP Ukraine presented the Public participation issue: WFD provisions and existed experience in Ukraine.
GWP Slovenia marked World Water Day with a national roundtable discussion, held on 18 March in Ljubljana. The event was organized in cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and the Global Water Partnership Slovenia
The participants were unanimous on the importance of cooperation at all levels was particularly stressed by Mitja Bricelj (Ministry for Environment and Spatial Planning), because this is the only way to achieve common goals.
The Chair of GWP CEE and GWP Slovenia Martina Zupan stressed the importance of shift "from words to actions". She spoke about the necessity to keep a dedicated water goal in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. One of the conditions for a sustainable and secure future of humanity and one of the priorities of development must be to improve the management of global water resources. The roundtable was led by RTV journalist Ksenija Horvat Petrovčič. Information about the event was published on the websites of the Ministry for Environment and Spatial Planning and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.