News and Activities

The ad-hoc Steering Committee for the Nexus activities in the Drina River Basin under the SEE Nexus Project, supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), had its first online meeting on 15 October 2020. Representatives from the Ministries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia relevant to the water, energy and environment sectors, were informed about and commented on the project’s objectives and planned activities in the basin.

What is so special about water diplomacy? And where does the discussion on women and gender fit in? Placing women, water and diplomacy in the same sentence, often enough causes reactions that include head-scratching and eyebrow-raising; the link among them is not easily -nor well- understood.

As a woman who has been working for women's rights for more than 20 years and participated in hundreds of training sessions, meeting and round tables, Mirela Arqimandriti has met women from all over Albania who work in industry, service sector or public sector – such as women workers in textile and shoe factories, agriculture, health, education etc. She says that having safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation is central to human rights and the personal dignity of every woman, man and child on earth. A collaborator of GWP Mediterranean, Mirela celebrates International Women’s Day (IWD2020) by sharing her story.

Kholoud Al-Ajarma is a Programme Manager for Lajee Center in Palestine, a Winner of the Water Heroes Contest, and collaborator to GWP Mediterranean. “My interest in water started from a human rights perspective. I believed that water is not only a science concern, but to have a better future in water management, all segments of society should collaborate to ensure water access to everyone and to raise awareness about water management and consumption among local communities,” she says. Today, her main motivation in is to ensure environmental justice for everyone. She shares her story in celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD2020).

GWP Mediterranean increases urban water availability by 1 year through a holistic intervention

The “1st Nexus Roundtable in the MENA and wider Mediterranean” will be held on 26-28 November 2018, in Beirut, Lebanon, at the Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace, under the auspices of the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water and in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the United Nations Environment Programme / Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP MAP).

Building on their long-lasting cooperation, the Global Water Partnership Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, Hydraulic Resources & Fishery (MARHP) signed a framework MoU to promote and facilitate the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) with a strengthened participation of water stakeholders in Tunisia, both at local level, national and transboundary level.

The crucial role of water ecosystems -and especially coastal wetlands- in Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and the policy options on how to best protect and valorize them through a Nexus approach were discussed at a session co-convened by the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and Wetlands International during the recent World Water Week in Stockholm (27-31 August 2018).

The World Water Week, held every year in Stockholm, is considered the major global annual event dedicated to water issues. More than 1200 speakers and presenters together with hundreds of participants more, will take part in its almost 300 sessions. The theme of this year’s Week (26-31 August) is “Water, Ecosystems and Human Development”. As in previous years, GWP-Med serves as the overall coordinator for the “MENA Focus” sessions dedicated to water-related issues in the Middle East & North Africa Region.

Représentant de la Palestine au Secrétariat général de l'Union pour la Méditerranée - AlmotazAbadi