IOWater - International News

10 The News N° 28 - February 2018 international events Climate change is already seriously affecting the water cycle all over the World. The resulting water crisis is a key factor in current and future social, economic, environ- ment and migration crises, affecting health, food and energy security and economic growth, essential to the sustainable develop- ment of many countries. Donors are mobilized on the issue, but stress their difficulty in finding sound projects to finance. At the same time, project holders regret their lack of capacities to initiate the preparation of new projects and to access funding given the complexity of the procedures. The Incubation Platform of the Global Alliances for Water and Climate (GAfWaC-IP) was created at COP22 in Marrakech, to fill this gap. It mobilizes the 450 partners involved in the four Global Alliances for Water and Climate gathering Basin Organizations, companies, large cities and desalination specialists. The GAfWaC Incubation Platform focuses on the priorities of the “Paris Pact on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Basins of Rivers, Lakes and Aquifers”, launched at COP21, parti- cularly for strengthening water gover- nance, protecting better and saving resources, developing hydrometeorological and environmental monitoring networks and Water Information Systems (WIS), or designing and operating sustainable finan- cing mechanisms. It also incorporates prio- rities shared with other GAfWaC member alliances, such as water resource protec- tion, Nature-Based Solutions, development of sustainable desalination solutions or circular economy in cities and companies. On an experimental basis, ten projects, including three in Africa, could be supported by the Platform in 2017, with the help of the French Ministry of Ecology. The implementation of these incubated projects could benefit 33 million people. At the end of the first year of operation, GAfWaC-IP completed the incubation of 10 projects and contacts were established with potential donors. Funding for several projects has already been secured. A second phase of the much more ambitious Incubation Platform is being finalized follo- wing the presentation of the results at COP23 in Bonn. The incubated projects in 2017 were: ➥ Securing populations and ecosystems around the Diama Dam in the Senegal River Delta; ➥ Resilience to the impacts of climate change: towards better efficiency in industrial wastewater treatment in the city of Fes in Morocco; ➥ Fight against climate change and restora- tion of the Zarqa River Basin in Jordan; ➥ Development of Water Information Systems for adaptation to climate change in the Congo River Basin; ➥ Adaptation to climate change and flood/drought risk management in the Syr Darya Basin in Kazakhstan; ➥ Development of a climate change adapta- tion strategy and a priority action plan for the Sava Basin; ➥ Launching of the first “Water and Climate” courses at the “HYDRUS” Training Center in Brasilia; ➦ Support to the operationalization of Burkina Faso’s National Water Information System; ➦ Mediterranean Water Knowledge Plat- form: Support to the development of National Water Information Systems (NWIS) in 4 pilot Southern Mediterranean countries; ➦ BAFWAC: Global Platform for Joint Action and Learning for Business. The Rome International Summit on Water and Climate, 23-25 October 2017, recommended that “Funding should support not only infrastructure projects, but also serve to improve knowledge of resources and climate change impacts, capacity building, governance, the monitoring and evaluation of policies”. The Italian Government allocated 5 million Euros to immediately launch three of these incubated projects. These very encouraging first results were presented at COP23 in Bonn last November. 4 “GAfWaC-IP” : The Incubation Platform for “Water and Climate” Projects A l l i a n c e s M o n d i a l e s p o u r l ’ E a u e t l e C l i m a t A M E C B a s s i n s E n t r e p r i s e s M é g a c i t é s D e s s a l e m e n t G l o b a l A l l i a n c e s f o r W a t e r a n d C l i m a t e G A f W a C B a s i n s B u s i n e s s M e g a c i t i e s D e s a l i n a t i o n A l i a n z a s M u n d i a l e s p a r a e l A g u a y e l C l i m a A M A C C u e n c a s E m p r e s a s M e g a c i u d a d e s D e s a l a c i ó n CONFÉRENCE DES NATIONS UNIES SUR LES CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES President E. Macron at the “One Planet Summit” Heads of State and Government at the Paris Summit