Month: Mar 2022

World Water Forum 9: “We need to act and now, because there is no green without blue and life is blue”

Short reflection by Maimouna Diop, a Senegalese Young Water Professional who chaired Session 2a4 “Rural Water Supply Management Models” at the World Water Forum 2022, on behalf of RWSN.

Maimouna Diop, Ing. MBA, PMP

This forum is definitely the most impactful ever. Dakar has been the capital of water for 6 days.

Young people have been mobilized around the world to show their commitments. We will live through difficult times in the coming decades: resources will become scarce, demography will experience an exponential rise and funding will be difficult to mobilize due to the global crisis we are already experiencing. The expected action is therefore human and it is now. We must be at the heart of politics by investing ourselves intellectually and physically.

Just a quick reminder : issues related to water control and food security in Senegal were discussed 39 years ago, during a session at the National Assembly on April 14, 1983, with the late Minister Samba Yela Diop (May his soul rest in peace). It simply means that water security is nothing new and that our elders knew how to sound the alarm at an early stage. We have to be as benevolent as our elders to identify new challenges to be met in the coming years.

Understanding the issues related to water will ensure that appropriate decisions can be made and for future generations.

We need to act and now, because there is no green without blue and life is blue.

Session Presentations:

Groundwater Resources Management New Online Course – 2022 

Apply by 11th April 2022

An estimated 75% of the African population relies on groundwater for their drinking water. Groundwater supports social and economic development and will become increasingly important in the face of climate change, droughts and floods. If groundwater is to provide reliable, safe and sustainable water supplies now and for future generations, the resource must be well-managed. This requires consideration of the entire system of policies & laws, strategies & guidance, monitoring & management as well as investments & projects. Those that manage and develop groundwater need to be equipped with appropriate skills and knowledge.

This new online course on groundwater resources management, launched in 2022 will provides participants with a comprehensive overview what impacts upon groundwater. Echoing the theme of the World Water Day 2022, this course will make the invisible visible. 

Participants who successfully complete the course will have an awareness of the importance of groundwater, understand the need to preserve it and be equipped with basic knowledge to engage in the management of groundwater resources at national and transboundary levels.

Transboundary aquifers in Africa: Approaches and mechanisms

Course content
– Characterisation of Aquifer Systems from a Management Perspective
– Groundwater monitoring and data/information management & communication
– Groundwater quality and source water protection
– Groundwater regulation, licensing, allocation and institutions for aquifer management
– Transboundary aquifers in Africa: Approaches and mechanisms

The online course is open to 250 participants from governments, NGOs, basin organisations, private sector, training organisations, academic organisations and donors. The course will start on Friday 29th April and run up to the 29th August. The application process is open to Tuesday 11th April 2022. 

Successful participants will be informed by the 22nd April 2022. 

Application link: https://cap-net.org/grm/