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2013 World Water Week report on Water Cooperation now available

Sanna — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 14:41:27 +0000

The 2013 World Water Week report “Cooperation for a Water Wise World – Partnerships for Sustainable Development” is now available.

The report provides input into the discussions at the 2013 World Water Week in Stockholm, which is held under the theme of Water Cooperation: Building Partnerships. The report also explore emerging issues such as the role of information and communications technology in advancing water cooperation, the importance of climate mitigation and adaptation coherence and the interplay between actors in the water, food and energy nexus.

Read and download the report here.

2013 World Water Week Report

Sanna — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 14:15:11 +0000

The 2013 World Water Week Report “Cooperation for a Water Wise World – Partnerships for Sustainable Development” provides input into the discussions at the 2013 World Water Week in Stockholm, which is held under the theme of Water Cooperation: Building Partnerships. The editors of the report are Anders Jägerskog, Director, Knowledge Services, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI); Torkil Jønch Clausen, Chair, World Water Week Scientific Programme Committee, SIWI; Karin Lexén, Director, World Water Week & Prizes, SIWI; and Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director, SIWI.

The report focuses on some of the key opportunities and challenges to effective cooperation over transboundary waters; in the private sector and for environmental protection. The authors also explore emerging issues such as the role of information and communications technology in advancing water cooperation; the importance of climate mitigation and adaptation coherence; the interplay between actors in the water, food and energy ‘nexus’; as well as provide new insights to resolve long standing challenges, such as improving coordination and collaboration in the management of freshwater and coastal systems.

The chapters in this report do not necessarily represent the views of SIWI but are contributions from individuals and organisations to the theme of the 2013 World Water Week.

Mapping of Financial Support to Transboundary Water Cooperation in Africa (FRA)

Sanna — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 08:58:58 +0000

Un rapport du Groupe de Travail Afrique de l´Initiative européenne pour l´Eau, basée à SIWI, « Etude sur l´assistance financière à la coopération pour les eaux transfrontalières en Afrique » recommande que la gestion des ressources en eaux partagées, et en particulier ses bénéfices potentiels pour le développement socio-économique et l´éradication de la pauvreté, fasse l´objet d´une priorité accrue de la part des partenaires de développement.

En dépit d´une croissance des financements destinés à soutenir la gestion des eaux transfrontalières en Afrique, ce type de soutien ne dépassait pas 1% du total de l´Assistance publique au Développement en 2011. De même, la promotion de la coopération dans la gestion des ressources en eaux partagées est loin d´être l´approche privilégiée par l´ensemble des bailleurs de fonds.

L´étude recommande que la communauté des partenaires de développement, en concertation étroite avec les organisations de bassin africaines, axe ses interventions en faveur d´une approche plus cohérente, plus concertée et plus équitable du soutien financier à la gestion des ressources en eau douce transfrontalières, en complément des interventions déjà financées par les pays membres des organisations africaines.

Pour plus d´information sur le Groupe de Travail Afrique de l´Initiative européenne pour l´Eau, cliquez ici.

New report: Mapping of Financial Support to Transboundary Water Cooperation in Africa

Sanna — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 14:24:00 +0000

A new report from the Africa Working Group of the EU Water Initiative, hosted by SIWI, Mapping of financial Support to Transboundary Water Cooperation in Africa recommends that Transboundary Water Resources Management and its high potential contribution to socio-economic development and poverty eradication receive full policy attention from international development partners.

Despite an increase since 2007 of the resource flows supporting management of transboundary waters in Africa, it still represents less than one per cent of the entire Official Development Assistance spending in 2011. Far from all development partners make support to development and management of international water basins a priority of their assistance to the water sector in Africa.

The report therefore recommends that the donor community works together with African basin organisations for a more coherent, concerted and equitable approach to financing support to the management of shared water, complementing initiatives already funded by basin member states.

Read and download the report in English.
Read and download the report in French.

Click here to learn more about the work of the EU Water Initiative, Africa Working Group.

Mapping of Financial Support to Transboundary Water Cooperation in Africa (ENG)

Sanna — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 14:13:26 +0000

Click here to learn more about the work of the EU Water Initiative, Africa Working Group.

The Liberia WASH Compact Reviewed

Sanna — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:28:36 +0000

The Liberia WASH Compact was developed as a result of a Joint Mission held in Monrovia in April 2011, supported by the Government of Liberia and the Sanitation and Water for All Partnership. Through the Compact the Government, with the support of development partners and civil society, outlined a series of commitments to ensure equitable and sustainable delivery of water and sanitation services for all Liberians. Commitments were arranged around four key thematic areas, for delivery over a two-year time period. The Liberia WASH Compact has come to be recognised as a good example of stakeholder collaboration and dialogue. The National Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion Committee has been very successful in bringing stakeholders together and has become the key coordinating entity for the sector.

A preliminary review of progress against the Compact commitments was made in September 2011. This second review was conducted by WaterAid and the UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI in October 2012. This review concludes that while the Compact has increased coordination and dialogue within the sector, it is clear that concrete progress against the majority of Compact commitments has been undermined by significant challenges. Renewed lobbying will be required to generate the political will needed to drive forward progress in outstanding areas, particularly among higher levels of Government. Donors and NGOs must also take responsibility for ensuring their support is aligned behind the priorities laid out in the Compact and the Sector Strategic Plan, and should utilise national and international opportunities to encourage progress against the Compact commitments.

See the report here.

The Water and Food Nexus: Trends and Development of the Research Landscape

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:57:55 +0000

This WATER AND FOOD NEXUS: Trends and Development of the Research Landscape report is jointly prepared by SIWI and Elsevier, and was motivated by a previous study whose findings were presented by Elsevier at the 2010 Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR)2 meeting in Washington DC.

At Elsevier the study has been executed by the SciVal Analytics unit with guidance from experts in the field of water research from the Aquatic and Green Sciences portfolio and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Authors of this report are: Britt-Louise Anderson, Christiane Barranguet, Jens Berggren, Judith Kamalski, Iris Kisjes, and Alexander van Servellen.

Published in 2012

Feeding a thirsty world: Challenges and opportunities for a water and food secure world

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:57:51 +0000

This report presents the latest thinking and new approaches to emerging and persistent challenges to achieve food security in the 21st century. It focuses on critical issues that have received less attention in the literature to date, such as: food waste, land acquisitions, gender aspects of agriculture, and early warning systems for agricultural emergencies. It also offers perspectives on how to better manage water and food linkages.

Published in 2012.

Addendum

This addendum clarifies issues relating to the research results published in:

Falkenmark, M. (2012) Food security: overcoming water scarcity realities, in Feeding a Thirsty World: Challenges and Opportunities for a Water and Food Secure World, SIWI Report 31. Jägerskog, A. and Jønch Clausen, T., (ed). Stockholm International Water Institute, Stockholm.

Clarification of citation

The chapter is based on the in May 2012 latest accessible modeling in the well published multiyear research project at Stockholm Resilience Center starting in 2007. The project is being summarised in the book:

Rockström, J., Falkenmark, M., Folke, C., Lannerstad, M., Hoff, H., Heinke, J., Gordon, L., Enfors, E., & Barron, J. (2013). Confronting the water challenge in a turbulent world. Towards a green-blue resilience approach for global sustainability. Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.

The results presented in the chapter originate from work in progress. The forthcoming publication will consider additional water productivity gains for crop and livestock production, different fractions of animal source foods in the diet, and sensitivity of the analysis, depending on the chosen assumptions.

Transboundary Water Management: Who Does What, Where? – Analysing the Data in SIWI’s Transboundary Water Management Database

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:57:33 +0000

In 2011, the Swedish Water House conducted a mapping of regional and international actors working in transboundary water management (TWM), which aimed to assist the identification of knowledge gaps and needs for further actions that could lead to more informed decision-making in water management. It also sought to promote objective decision-making, thereby helping to form a framework for resource allocation in TWM. Based on the mapping a database was created. The on-going activities of 94 actors, and more than 700 transboundary river and lake basins, aquifers and large marine ecosystems1 can be found in the database. Similar efforts made previously have focused on legal frameworks or on capacity building through sharing project information (IWLEARN, 2012; WWF et al., 2010; UNWAIS, 2012; TFDD 2007). The TWM mapping and database takes a broader focus and an actor-based approach. The complexity and significance of TWM have been reiterated by researchers, politicians and water professionals. The socio-economic disparity as well as power asymmetries between the riparian countries is one of the obstacles to cooperation of TWM institutions. The development of physical infrastructure is often a sensitive issue, but one of the main driving forces of cooperation in some cases. The primary objectives of TWM cooperation can be divided into three categories: 1) maximum utilisation of the common good (utilitarian approach); 2) conflict prevention; 3) maintaining ecological sustainability. This report analyses the findings from the database. It shows that more actors working with transboundary water issues focus their efforts on Africa than in any other region. Furthermore, most activities are located in transboundary rivers, while other basin types receive less attention. The three basins with the largest number of actors working with TWM are the Nile, Volta and Mekong. According to the analysis of three basins with the most active number of TWM actors (the Nile, the Volta, the Mekong River Basin), the utilitarian approach appears to be the most prominent objectives of the current actors activities. Activities to maintain ecological sustainability are more prevalent in the Mekong River Basin, where information management has been successful and led by the strong institutional capacity of the transboundary basin organisation, Mekong River Commission. Conflict prevention activities are not as prominent in practice as they are in academic literature on transboundary water issues. None of the actors in the database involved in the Nile, Volta and the Mekong, are focused on conflict prevention as their main objective. Actors also provide different tools aimed to support transboundary water management, often in the form of publications. Most of the tools developed are broad and cover several aspects of TWM. The most common are tools providing information on how to construct legal frameworks.

The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Financial Flows to the Water Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:49:18 +0000

The omnipresent nature of the global financial crisis led us at SIWI to question the impact of the crisis on financial flows to the water sector, focusing our attention on Sub-Saharan Africa. In this report we unpack how the water sector is presently financed and then trace the impact of the crisis on these financial flows.