News
 WWAP to discuss WWDR3 at Stockholm’s World Water Week at UN-Water meeting
When the next UN-Water meeting takes place in mid-August at Stockholm’s World Water Week, WWAP representatives will be there for a high-level discussion on the future 3rd World Water Development Report (WWDR3), which will be released on World Water Day 2009 at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.
Mr. Olcay Ünver, the new Coordinator of WWAP, will be attending his first UN-Water meeting where he will be discussing the vision of the WWDR3 with all of the UN agencies working on water issues. This will be first step towards the preparation of the Report, and will include dialogue on the contents, new challenge areas and new chapters.
World Water Week website
 WWAP invited to participate in Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Beppu, Japan
Heads of government, stakeholder representatives and government officials will participate in the 1st Asia-Pacific Water Summit, hosted by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum in Beppu, Japan on 3-4 December 2007. The Summit will focus on three principal themes – identified at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City – which need to be addressed to make progress in the water agenda: (1) water financing, (2) water-related disaster management and (3) water for development and ecosystems.
WWAP was distinguished with an invitation to participate in this event, because of its mandate to assess the world’s freshwater resources and ecosystems and its involvement in working with governments to develop their own assessment capabilities.
Asia-Pacific Water Forum website
WWAP Case Studies
Po River Basin Authority agrees to participate in WWAP as Case Study
On 14 July, the Po Basin Authority signed a letter of approval to have the River Po be submitted as one of the next Case Studies of the World Water Assessment Programme. The Basin Authority and its experts will work with WWAP to assess the water resources of the basin and showcase them in the 3rd World Water Development Report.
Although a relatively small river basin by European standards, it is the largest basin in Italy and has great economic, industrial and environmental importance for the country. The basin covers an area over 74,000 km2 (24% of Italy) and runs a length of 650 km, discharging into the Adriatic Sea. The basin has a total of 17 million inhabitants and depends on the river for its livelihood in agriculture, livestock, industry and tourism. Approximately 40% of the Italian GDP comes from the Po River Basin.
Po River Basin Authority website
Republic of Korea Case Study for WWDR3 makes progress
After a meeting on 9 July, the Republic of Korea Case Study, slated to appear in the 3rd World Water Development Report (WWDR3) in March 2009, moved forward towards finalizing the preparations before starting work on the project. The Sustainable Water Resources Research Center (focal point), Korean Ministry of Construction and Transportation, UNESCO Korean National Commission, IHP Korean Commission and the UNESCO Office in Beijing, China will all be involved in the Case Study.
Korea will also take this opportunity to do studies on the basin scale within the country, in addition to the work plan already been agreed upon for the nation-wide Case Study. Mr. Hong Hyeongpyo, Director of Water Resources Policy in the Ministry of Construction and Transportation will organize a meeting amongst the relevant ministries related to water to choose case studies for this endeavour.
Read more about the WWDR2 Case Studies
WWAP Participates
 2 July: Red Alfa-TECSPAR International Sustainable Water Management Workshop (Barcelona and Terrasa, Spain)
Mr. Engin Koncagul, the WWAP Case Studies Coordinator, travelled to Barcelona and Terrasa, Spain on 2 July to participate in the Red Alfa-TECSPAR International Workshop on Sustainable Water Management. Mr. Koncagul gave the opening presentation of the workshop, setting the stage for the three-day meeting. He spoke about how water and sanitation, within the context of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), are connected to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Mr. Koncagul was interviewed by several journalists following his presentation; one of the interviews will be in the Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya.
The Red Alfa-TECSPAR workshop was partially sponsored by the UNESCO Chair on Sustainability that is based at the Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya whose purpose is to develop an integrated system of research, education, information and documentation activities focused mainly on analysing the relationship between sustainability, technology and humanism.
Workshop website
Did you know...? Facts and figures on Water in Mali
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Niger River, Mali
© UNESCO T. Murtagh |
- Located more than 1,000 km away from the sea, Mali is a landlocked nation in which over half of its 1,241,000 km2 resides within the Sahara Desert.
- There are three distinct climatic regions in Mali, the arid Sahara Desert region of the northwest (57%), an arid/semi-arid region in the centre of the country (18%) and a savannah region in the south, which comprises 25% of Mali. While the rainfall in the Sahara does not exceed 200 mm a year, the rainy season in the southern part of the country brings up to 1,200 mm/year.
- Both the Niger and Senegal Rivers, with their perennial flows, run through Mali, two of the most significant rivers in Western Africa. These account for 56 billion m3 of water. These rivers, combined with 15 billion m3 of water from non-perennial rivers and 66 billion m3 of renewable groundwater resources, make Mali’s renewable water resources per capita at 10,000 m3.
- Approximately 270,000 ha of land is irrigated in Mali. Of the 4.5 billion m3 of water that is abstracted for agriculture, 98% comes from surface water. Even with such an amount already delegated to irrigation, to ensure food security in the country, the amount of land irrigated and water allocated for irrigation will need to be doubled.
- Two dams (the Selingue and Manantali) provide 98% of the hydropower which is utilized in Mali. These dams represent only 20% of the hydropower potential of the nation. Hydropower only provides 1% of the energy in Mali while charcoal and firewood supply 90%.
Over 80% of all illnesses in Mali are water-related and include cholera, diarrhoea and guinea worm.
Facts and figures taken from the 2nd United Nations World Water Development Report, 'Water, a shared responsibility' (WWDR2, 2006) and from the Mali case study [PDF format – 4.19 MB]
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