Global Water Partnership
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Type | Intergovernmental organisation |
|---|---|
| Focus | Water management |
| Location | |
Region served | Worldwide |
Key people | Executive Secretary and CEO, Darío Soto-Abril Chair Howard Bamsey |
| Website | gwp |
The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is an international network created to foster an integrated approach to water resources management (IWRM) and provide practical advice for sustainably managing water resources.[1] It operates as a network, open to all organisations, including government institutions, agencies of the United Nations, bi- and multi-lateral development banks, professional associations, research institutions, non-governmental organisations, and the private sector.[2]
GWP grew out of decades of dissatisfaction with water management[3] practices and a consensus that a more sustainable approach was needed. Several large international conferences and agreements had particular influence over its formation:
- The 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Environment
- The 1977 Mar del Plata Conference,
- The 1992 Dublin Conference was held in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro the same year.[4] One outcome of the Dublin Conference were the "Dublin Principles"[5] that are the founding pillars of IWRM.
- Agenda 21 that came out of the UNECD formally integrated the Dublin principles in Chapter 18: Protection of the Quality & Supply of Freshwater Resources: Application of Integrated Approaches to the Development, Management & Use of Water Resources".[6]
The GWP was founded in 1996 with the support of the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).[7][8] Initially functioning as a unit of Sida, GWP became an intergovernmental organisation under international law known as the Global Water Partnership Organisation (GWPO) in 2002. The secretariat is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
