News and Activities

GWP Pakistan collaborated with WWF Pakistan in holding a Stakeholders Consultation in Islamabad on July 16, 2011, on Integrated River Basin Management for the Indus River and Water Stewardship Study.

The Pakistan Ministry of Environment accepted in May the first draft of the national climate policy and it is now ready to be forwarded to the federal cabinet for approval.

GWP India, through its Area Water Partnerships, is contributing to the improvement of water resources management.

Water quality is a major issue in Sri Lanka. Pollution and waste dumping contaminate water supplies, leading to serious health impacts for nearby water users. In one of the country’s most serious cases of water pollution, 300,000 people in Gampula were at risk when an epidemic of viral hepatitis broke out; several people died. But GWP Sri Lanka has achieved some results. (In photo: GWP Sri Lanka Chair Kusum Athukorala)

On Wednesday the 6th of April 2011 the Union Cabinet Ministers of India approved a comprehensive charter for the National Water Mission, one of the eight national missions which form the core of the National Action Plan for Climate Change.

The new State Water Policy of Rajasthan, the largest state in India by area, puts the emphasis on two components: an integrated water resources management approach and the efficient working of Water User Groups (WUG). During 2010, GWP India with the support of its Northern Zone Water Partner, organized two workshops for the capacity building of NGOs involved in the implementation of the new policy.

“Water Security and Climate Change ‒ Challenge for South Asian Women” was the topic of a meeting on February 2 organised by GWP Sri Lanka and its partner NetWater.

Karachi, one of the world's largest cities with a population of more than 14 million, as with the rest of Pakistan, was severely hit by the floods last summer. The Karachi Water Partnership (KWP), whose founding in 2007 was inspired by the GWP model, has, through the Hisaar Foundation, raised significant funding to address the longer-term issues related to flooding and water management.

As part of its response to last year’s devastating floods in the country, GWP Pakistan organised on 12 January 2011 a one-day seminar on water security in the face of climate change, with the support of the government’s Planning Commission and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

In 2009 the Uva Provincial Council and National Water Supply and Drainage Board sought help from GWP Sri Lanka to set up a provincial water resources committee. This request was prompted by a new government policy recommending that provincial water resources committees should be set up to manage drinking water at river basin scale.