Following detailed assessment and a structured stakeholders' consultation at national and regional levels, the five Drin River riparian states signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a shared strategic vision for the benefit of about two million people who rely on the basin for drinking water, agriculture, fisheries, industry, and hydropower.
Overall Objectives of the Regional Water Partnership in Central Asia and Caucasus
According to the Johannesburg Declaration (2002), the ultimate goal of the activities of Central Asia and Caucasus Partnership Network is to support and assist the countries in implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development and Millennium Development Goals. This process must be accompanied by public involvement in decision-making, support for the political will for cooperation between sectors and countries, initiating dialogue among all stakeholders and supporting practical activities locally implemented including capacity building.
This Partnership is very important and its implementation should contribute to support the Gambia in the sustainable management of its water resources ... The government and my department will provide all necessary support to do so.
A River Basin Management Plan of the Sava river basin is under development, the first attempt in the Southern European region to draft a River Basin Management Plan according to the EU Water Framework Directive. GWP Mediterranean and GWP Central and Eastern Europe have significantly contributed to the stakeholder involvement process related to development of the Plan.
A USAID project to develop a regional economic model for the integrated use of Aral Sea basin water resources was granted to a consortium of DHI, COWI and GWP Central Asia and Caucasus (GWP CACENA), with GWP CACENA being asked to coordinate the project. A working meeting was held on 7-9 December 2011 to elaborate specific assignments for national experts from five countries.
GWP Central America signed an agreement with the National Water Authority of Nicaragua (Autoridad Nacional del Agua - ANA) to help prepare guidelines for basin management plans. The agreement, signed October 14, 2011, is a contribution to the implementation of the Water Law approved in 2007.
Conflicts over water resources exist in Vietnam as in many parts of the world where a large population have to share scarce water resources. To tackle these issues, GWP Vietnam organized a workshop on 29th November 2011, in Hanoi, to discuss solutions through and integrated approach to Food-Water-Energy Security.
A joint position paper from GWP West Africa and GWP Mediterreanean, in view of Rio+20 in 2012.
Following the central government's policy document on Reform and Development in the Water Sector in early 2011, water resources management has become the top government priority at all levels in China.