On March, 21, 2014, around 50 participants, including representatives of the diplomatic corps and representatives of the UN agencies Beijing Offices and private sectors, attended a seminar organized by the China Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) China Office in Beijing.
The four-day 2015, from March 25 to 29, BOAO Forum for Asia (BFA) was held in the scenic town in Hainan Province with the theme of "Asia's New Future: Toward a Community of Common Destiny". This is the first top-level multilateral forum in China after the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held earlier in March.
The 7th edition of the World Water Forum, the largest regular interface of the global water community with an outreach to actors outside the water box, will convene on April 12-17, 2015 in the Republic of Korea. The dedicated Mediterranean Cross-Continental Process to coordinate and prepare the regional contribution and key messages for the World Water Forum is co-facilitated by the Mediterranean Water Institute (IME) and the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and steered by a multi-stakeholder Committee involving national and regional water actors.
This year’s World Water Day theme is “Water and Sustainable Development”. Preparatory work for celebrating the day is underway in several countries, with the main UN celebration taking place in New Delhi, India, on 20 March. Building up to the event, GWP’s #watergoal campaign has been stepped up.
Registration is now open for the 1st African Water Integrity Summit in Lusaka, Zambia. The summit is co-hosted by UNDP-Water Governance Facility, The Water Integrity Network, UNDP/Cap-Net, WaterNet and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). - Register now!
Although the West African Sub-region is well advanced in IWRM, some countries still need more support. A strategy was developed to help countries that had formally requested IWRM planning assistance. The lesson learnt is that participatory processes take much longer than non-participatory ones, nonetheless, they are still favourable since they provide a platform for discussion and a place to exchange ideas.
GWP is introducing several new publications at World Water Week 2014: two GWP Technical Committee Background Papers, one Perspectives Paper, one Briefing Note and one Proceedings Paper. All of these are available online, and in hard copy through the GWP online order form.
Capacity development at transboundary and national levels is urgently required to enhance local technical, analytical and institutional capacity for climate resilient development. This is a key pillar of the WACDEP and NAPs process. Investment planning for climate resilient development needs to be informed by sound economic analysis of adaptation. In collaboration with AMCOW, CDKN, UNDP-GEF, CapNet and GWP, a Capacity Development Initiative on Economics of Adaptation, Water Security and Climate Resilient Development is implemented in Africa.
The Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) will have a strong presence at the 7th World Water Forum in Daegu and Gyeongju, in South Korea, on April 12-17, 2015.