Unsustainable irrigation policies during the Soviet era have had devastating consequences for the Aral Sea. With the collapse of USSR, the riparian states took action and entered into agreement on Cooperation in the Joint Use and Protection of Water Resources of Interstate Significance. Furthermore, the international community took action and much attention has been devoted to re-establish the Aral Sea ecosystem. This case illustrates the importance of engaging all key stakeholders.
With the collapse of the USSR, the water sector seized to be subsidised leading to deterioration of basic infrastructure. Action was taken to partially transfer the responsibility for operation and maintenance of irrigation systems to water users. Nonetheless, this has had limited success because it has been seen as an additional cost rather than benefit. This illustrates that for this to work, the returned benefits need to be higher than the costs.
The EU Water Framework Directive requires measures to achieve good status of all waters by 2015. In Germany, it is not the federal government that is in charge of implementation but it is the responsibility of the county. To meet the objective, transboundary exchange of experiences was promoted by broadening the range of methods and tools available to water managers. From this study, it is evident that interaction with stakeholders plays a central role.
Strategic financial planning is a means to assess financing needs and match them to financing sources in a structured way to fill the gap in funds over a period of time based on different future scenarios. An approach to strategic financial planning for the water supply and sanitation sector called FEASIBLE has been developed by the OECD. It was applied with support from the GWP-hosted EUWI-FWG and the ACP-EU Water Facility in Lesotho during 2008-2010.
GWP Moldova made recommendations to five local authorities across Moldova for improvements in water management practices and for reducing environmental damage, together with assessments of the effect of these improvements on community development, the environment, and cost estimates.
GWP Sri Lanka's Area Water Partnership in Nilwala helped resolve a contentious issue that had long affected the area.
Journalists from print media and broadcasting attended a workshop organised by GWP Cameroon in Douala in December 2012.
The Sixth Session of the Meeting of the Parties to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes was held in Rome in November 2012.