This was revealed on Tuesday 17th December 2013 during a one day workshop organized by Global Water Partnership East Africa, in collaboration of Rwanda Water Partnership with general objective to review the extent of integrating water security and climate change into national development planning and decision making processes. This workshop targeted multi-sectoral stakeholders operating in water security and climate change domain in order to update them the WACDEP activities and consult on what mechanisms/actions to be taken to further enhance partnership among key sectors in addressing water security and climate change challenges.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Vincent de Paul Kabalisa, Deputy Director of Rwanda Natural Resources Authority in charge of Integrated Water Resources Management said that mechanisms to conserve, protect and manage water resources in order to secure and enhance its availability for, and utility to, the present and future generations of Rwandans were put in place and several initiatives are going on, and therefore, WACDEP activities should support on going initiatives.
Speaking to the participants, Patrick Safari, Regional Coordinator of GWP Eastern Africa highlighted that the overall objective of WACDEP is to support integration of water security and climate resilience in development planning and decision making processes, through enhanced technical and institutional capacity and predictable financing and investments in water security and climate change adaptation. “We need to raise awareness and make sure that the issues of water security and climate resilience are integrated into all sectors sector plans and decision making”, said Safari.
In Rwanda, WACDEP is being implemented both at national and catchment levels. The Bugesera region (shared between Burundi and Rwanda) and specifically Lake Cyohoha watershed is selected as pilot site. The expected outcome is supporting Rwanda for a higher level of water secured and climate resilient development.
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