News and Activities

“Many activities had been done and showed progress in the past five years, but there are also still remaining a lot of challenges and many IWRM activities need to be done in the coming years. However, the new phase of strategy implementation has to be improved and aligned with national natural resources strategy and other water related sector plans as well as the 8th national socio-economic development plans of the government 2016-2020” said Mr. Thoumma Saluemxay, Deputy Director General of Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The workshop on 26 May 2015 highlighted that The Lao National Water Resources Strategy and Action Plan 2011-2015 implementation and development is very crucial for water sector collaboration among stakeholders in the country since the last five years of review.

Lao Water Partnership with support from GWP Southeast Asia held a seminar on 15 June 2015 to support the Government of Lao PDR’s policy in relation to preparation and finalization of national socio-economic development plan 2016-2020, Strategy 2025 and Vision 2030, which related to national sustainable development and green economy.

Mr. Thoumma Saleumxay, Deputy Director General of Department of Water Resource, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, chaired the meeting and expressed on the important of Integrated Water Resources Management, sustainable development management in Lao PDR in in his opening remarks.

In Bago River, water has been used for Agriculture, Industries and Tourist attraction which means the quality of water is important to be used for human and other living things.
Water of good quality should be clear and free from harmful substances and can be used by humans and other living things.
Myanmar Water Partnership and Global Water Partnership-Southeast Asia together with government organizations, University, NGOs, INGOs (total 55 participants) gathered to discuss about water quality monitoring and evaluation aspects in Bago River on 15th September 2015 at Irrigation Technology Center, Bago.

The capacity needs for youth on IWRM in Lao PDR is strongly needed to advocate the knowledge and skills which they can further support and disseminate among their specific groups in the schools, universities and communities. Youth has more creative ideas and lots of activities related to environmental protection as well as some of water protection – water saving campaign, etc.

The government of Lao PDR is working very constructively to improve the water resources planning and management system in Lao PDR especially in the formal higher education system.

Through the Lao Water Partnership, Mr. Chanthanet Boualapha, Director General of Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment who acts as chairperson of Lao Water Partnership opened the consultation on mainstreaming the IWRM in the formal higher education system. He expressed on the important of IWRM progress and application in Laos context for a decade as well as capacity building on this field. He also addressed the importance of the strengthening the local capacity in the whole country for IWRM decentralization and human resource development including emphasizing on integration and mainstreaming IWRM /IRBM approach into education system in each level.

26 lecturers from Indonesian universities recently met in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, together with GWP representatives for a workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) ToolBox.

One of our partners, The Network of Asian River Basin Organizations (NARBO), held its 8th IWRM Training in Thulhiriya, SriLanka from 27 November-4 December 2013 to be hosted by Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL).  The Training theme is "Enhanced Water Security through IWRM - Mahaweli Experience".

The eight days training program used a mix of participatory and trans-disciplinary case studies which aims to develop the capacity of participants in IWRM Implementation by using the "IWRM Spiral Model" which was introduced as part of the "IWRM Guidelines at River Basin Level" and issued by UNESCO in 2009. 27 Participants from 11 countries includes: Lao PDR, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

On 18 December 2013, Indonesia Water Partnership re-introduced Tool Box to 14 participants who came from Government, Professional, University, and NGO. Resource Persons came from: Government (DG Water Resources, Ministriof Public Work); Private Companies, NGOs, Highe Education (University). Indonesia Water Partnership (INA-WP) as an organizer and Co-organizer was Directorate of Water Resources, Ministry of Public Work, Republic of Indonesia. Inkind support received are meeting room, sound system and LCD

“We are trying to bring more people to write and share their result of hard work in to article and share it with other people by using Tool Box” Dr. Melati Ferianita , Indonesia Water Partnership.