The session took place on Friday morning, 25 October, and was attended by a number of key figures, including the Ivorian Minister for Water and Forests, Mr Laurent Tchagba, who gave the opening speech.
The session, moderated by the GWP-WA Chair, Mr Abdoulaye SENE, discussed the state of water resources management and development in relation to the implementation processes of the Water Convention and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), as well as the acceleration of progress in efforts to ensure water security and resilient development in Africa. It enabled the panellists to take stock of the state of IWRM implementation in 2023 and of experiences in implementing the Convention, while sharing concrete IWRM case studies, particularly in West Africa and other regions of Africa. Discussions also took place on the challenges to be met and the prospects for progress in implementing the Convention and IWRM in Africa, in collaboration with partners.
In his opening remarks, the Ivorian Minister spoke of these various processes at different levels. Speaking about the IWRM process in West Africa, he indicated that ‘this regional IWRM process in West Africa has achieved several results, including the promotion of new basin organisations in West Africa, in particular: (1) Comoé-Bia-Tano between Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali; (2) Mono between Togo and Benin; (3) Transboundary basins of the Mano River Union between Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire’.
The speakers and panellists shared their thoughts on: (i) the current situation in the region in terms of successful Water Convention implementation processes; (ii) the status of IWRM implementation in 2023, with examples of related case studies in countries, basins and regions; and (iii) discussed the challenges faced and the prospects and opportunities for accelerating progress towards achieving water security and climate-resilient development by working with partners.
In addition to the moderator and the Côte d'Ivoire Minister, the speakers were
- Mr Komlan Sangbana, UNECE
- Mr Paul Glennie, UNEP-DHI
- Mr Li, Director of the FAO Land and Water Division
- Mr Gninpale Konlani, Director of Water Resources, Togo
- Mr MKHUZO CHONGO, Zambia
- Mr Tusanga Mukanga Sylvain, Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Lake Tanganyika Authority
- Ms Hwirin Kim, Head of Hydrology and Water Resources Sector Division - WMO
- Mr Nabil Ben Khatra, Executive Secretary - OSS
- Mr K. Alexis Kouassi, Director of the CGRE/ECOWAS
- Mr Armand Houanye, Executive Secretary of GWP- WA.
GWP Network was represented by a strong delegation at this Meeting of the Parties.
