LAUNCHING WORKSHOP OF THE INTEGRATED DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PROJECT IN WEST AFRICA (IDMP/WAf)
(Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) – The "Integrated Drought Management Project in West Africa (IDMP/WAF)" is the title of the new project which will be officially launched on January 28, 2015 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (Palm Beach Hotel), with partners from three countries covered.
This meeting will be attended by forty participants from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.
Regional Day- Global Water Partnership, South Asia
Side Event: “From Risk to Resilience: South Asia Regional Framework for Sustainable Water Management
GWP SA was contracted by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) to collaborate and lead in a project dealing with the development of knowledge products. The assignment involved packaging and targeting outputs of small scale infrastructure research undertaken in the Limpopo River basin between 2009 -2013.
GWP was one of the organizing partners of the Gender, Water & Development Conference held in East London from 3-7 November, 2014. The conference, hosted by the Department of Water and Sanitation, Water Research Commission, African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), Women for Water Partnership and others, attracted over 430 participants from 36 countries. Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss and Dr. Ania Grobicki, GWPs Chairperson and Executive Secretary respectively, both attended the conference and gave presentations on GWP’s commitment to gender mainstreaming.
The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa has been a collaborating partner in the National Adaptation Plan – Global Support Programme (NAP-GSP) process through association with the Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP). NAP-GSP is assisting LDCs to identify technical, institutional and financial needs to integrate climate change adaptation into ongoing medium and long-term national planning and budgeting in Twenty-six least developed countries (LDCs). GWP has joined other NAP-GSP partners in supporting LDCs to advance NAPs through:
China is at the heart of debates around the perceived trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection. Since the early 1990s, the country has experienced remarkable economic growth, lifting nearly 600 million people out of poverty and averaging a per capita GDP growth rate of 8.9%. The question of how to release water to growing urban areas and industries while continuing to increase farm production and rural incomes is therefore something of a political headache.Since 2000, the government’s desire to build an ‘ecological civilization’ has meant greater integration of economic development, environmental protection and poverty reduction in the country’s most important national planning documents and policy agendas. Promoting more efficient agricultural water use can encourage economic growth and is a good investment. China’s success in releasing water from its agricultural sector has allowed its industry and services to use the water saved to grow.
A new GWP perspectives paper outlines that the governance of land and water needs to be coordinated in order to feed the world’s growing population. The aim of the paper is to galvanise a discussion within the GWP network and the larger water, land, and development community.
Uneven geographical distribution, coupled with pressures from rapid population growth, increased urbanization, industrialization and environmental degradation, is a big challenge to the sustainable development of Uganda’s freshwater resources. However, the policy and institutional framework has advanced over the past two decades in Uganda. The policy and legal reform process started with the introduction of the Water Act (1995) and the Uganda Water Action Plan (1995). Other key policies included the National Water Policy (1999) and the Local Government Act (1997, 2000). A key Lesson learnt is that political support matters in achieving success, as does the nature and logic of the political system. In Uganda, political prioritization of water and poverty was central to progress. The depth and longevity of sector reform relies on political support, which can ebb and flow.
Water security is under intense pressure in many urban areas, and the very nature of urbanisation contributes to water stress situations both from a quantity and quality perspective. GWP – in collaboration with India Water Partnership and WAPCOS Limited – addresses urban water issues in a daylong workshop on Friday 16 January at India Water Week 2015.