| Issue 61. 20 February 2015 | www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/decade_weekly.shtml |
| This week in focus | Editor’s note
Welcome to the Decade’s Weekly! Every week until 22 March 2015 we bring you the latest news from the International Decade for Action ’Water for Life’ 2005-2015. Please feel free to share this newsletter. You can also access this newsletter online. Tip of the week
Gavin Power, Head of the UN Global Compact's CEO Water Mandate, discusses the role and function of the Water Mandate at the UN-Water International Zaragoza Conference 2015. |
| #Post2015
Intergovernmental Negotiations on Post-2015 Development Agenda: Declaration Session Date: 17-20 February 2015 The intergovernmental negotiations on post-2015 development agenda will take place over several sessions starting in January 2015. After the first stocktaking session which took place from 19-21 January 2015, this second session will take place on 17-20 February 2015, and focus on the Declaration. Co-Facilitators of the post-2015 process, HE Ambassador Macharia Kamau (Kenya) and HE Ambassador David Donoghue (Ireland), will convene an interactive dialogue with Major Groups and other stakeholders to comment on the draft elements for the Declaration on the post-2015 development agenda as well as to react to the interventions made by Member States during the preceding days. The 16-member February Stakeholder Steering Committee has now selected for this process 21 speakers representing the Major Groups and other stakeholders, ensuring regional, constituency and gender balance while also bringing a diversity of voices and expertise to the process. Side events organized by Member States, major groups and other stakeholders, UN system and other intergovernmental organizations, will also be held during this session. |
| In the news | Forthcoming events |
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#Water&ResearchUNESCO-IHE signs partnership to develop water research capacity in Gaza and the West Bank
The Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC) and the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education have signed a partnership agreement that will see the two institutions further develop joint initiatives to assist the development of water research capacity. MEDRC and UNESCO-IHE have collaborated for many years in assisting research projects that focus on the water needs of Gaza and the West Bank. Both institutions have agreed to develop joint initiatives in the following areas: (i) joint proposal submissions for water research projects; (ii) development of joint events and conferences in areas of mutual strengths including desalination, water reuse and water, energy, food security nexus; (iii) knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices; (iv) joint initiatives to build research capacity; (v) initiatives to assisting individual Palestinian researchers. The urban lectures is a free resource of 15 min. video lectures, including synopsis, biographies and additional reading materials, open to use for academic, professional or personal purposes. Following the success of the first season, which to date has gathered over 25,400 views and is one of the most shared outreach initiatives of UN-Habitat, the 2nd season, launched on 9 February 2015, includes a lecture by Jane Weru, Executive Director of Akiba Mashinani Trust, on water and sanitation hygiene systems in informal settlements in Nairobi. In the context of promoting multi-sectoral development planning to address disasters and mainstream disaster risk reduction and building resilience into broader development planning and poverty reduction strategies, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) organised the Regional Conference on Strategies and Tools for Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction into Development Planning and Financing from 16 to 18 February 2015 at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok, Thailand. The conference outlined countries’ gaps and needs for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into development planning and financing processes to be addressed under the project ’Enhancing knowledge and capacity for the management of disaster risks for a resilient future in Asia and the Pacific’. Did you know?
 Economic growth and individual wealth are shifting diets from predominantly starch-based to meat and dairy, which require more water. Producing 1 kilo rice, for example, requires about 3,500 litres of water, while 1 kilo of beef some 15,000 litres. |
#SDG Managing the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs: What it will take
Date: 17 February to 17 March 2015 The purpose of the e-discussion is to engage stakeholder groups, experts, practitioners and policy-makers from various regions in a global dialogue on specific aspects of the 2015 ECOSOC theme of ’Managing the transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the sustainable development goals: What it will take’. The discussion will focus on policy choices and mindset change for an integrated agenda, adaptation by institutions and structures, partnerships for the implementation of the SDGs and the post- 2015 agenda and monitoring and review. The e-discussion provides a unique opportunity for the water community to formulate critical policy messages and recommendations for ECOSOC. Date: 2-5 March 2015 The year 2015 has been declared by the United Nations General Assembly as International Year of Soils, for their fundamental and irreplaceable role in food production, and to call for their protection and sustainable use. Soil also plays a key role in the supply of clean water and resilience to floods and droughts. FAO, as the Secretariat of the Global Soil Partnership, is organizing a workshop for the focal points of such partnership in South America, to inform and share the national situation of soil protection policies in the countries of the region and define a medium-term roadmap to take care of this vital resource. Date: 9-12 March 2015 Science continues to find ways to combat land degradation through better management of natural resources including lands, soils, plants, water and the atmosphere. The UNCCD 3rd Scientific Conference will address the theme ’Combating desertification, land degradation and drought for poverty reduction and sustainable development - the contribution of science, technology, traditional knowledge and practices’. It will be held during the 4th special session of the Committee on Science and Technology of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The Scientific Conference aims to harness a wide range of scientific, local and traditional knowledge to achieve poverty reduction and sustainable development in areas susceptible to desertification, land degradation and drought. |
• Water for Life
Water for Life is an initiative to be carried out by Children and Nature Network Asia (CNNA) whose purpose is to seek answers to major life threatening issues that impact lives and to provide solution- based guidelines.
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• Big Jump Challenge 2015
The Big Jump Challenge is a youth campaign for the European River Swimming Day carried out by GETIDOS (GEtting ThIngs DOne Sustainably). The Big Jump Challenge is the youth campaign for Big Jump and helps to find a partner team from another EU country to organize a partner jump. It draws attention to the shortcomings of policy makers in implementing the EU Water Framework Directive, and hold politicians accountable to improving the quality of Europe’s freshwaters by 2015 and beyond.
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• Water in the National Park Sierra de Guadarrama: Water for Life
The National Park Sierra de Guadarrama’s Visitor Center "Valle de la Fuenfría" has joined the decade’s campaign organizing free activities in schools within its area aimed at teaching to assess the role of water as a fundamental natural resource and understand the problems of pollution and misuse of this resource.
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• Asociación Ibérica de Tecnología Sin Zanja (IbSTT)
The Asociación Ibérica de Tecnología Sin Zanja (IbSTT) a technical scientific non-profit organization whose main objective is to promote the development of knowledge and practice of trenchless technology for the benefit of citizens and the environment as in many other countries. IbSTT has joined the decade’s campaign and the logo will be included in its website, press releases, emails and meetings.
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