science

Global Water Partnership

Global Water Partnership is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Global Water Partnership rather than just read about it. In short: 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. 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 institutio…

Key takeaways

Global Water Partnership belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Global Water Partnership to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Global Water Partnership from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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. 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.

History GWP grew out of decades of dissatisfaction with water management 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. One outcome of the Dublin Conference were the "Dublin Principles" 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". 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). 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.

Organisational structure

The Network currently comprises 13 Regional Water Partnerships and 68 accredited Country Water Partnerships and includes more than 3,000 institutional Partners located in over 170 countries. The 13 regions are Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, the Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Central Asia and the Caucasus, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Although the activities are coordinated and supported by the Secretariat, Regional and Country Partnerships manage and govern themselves, and convene stakeholders to address specific issues. The Global Secretariat supports the Executive Secretary, the Technical Committee and other GWP Committees, and the Regional Water Partnerships in governance, finance, communications, planning, and operational management of programmes and administration. In addition, GWP is supported by its Technical Committee which consists of professionals selected for their experience in different disciplines relating to water resources management. The GWP Chair is Howard Bamsey, who took up the position in January 2019. The Executive Secretary and CEO is Darío Soto-Abril (effective 1 March 2021) and the Chair of the GWP Technical Committee is Dr Jerome Delli Priscoli. Its Patrons are Dr. Ismail Serageldin and Margaret Catley-Carlson. the Prince of Orange Willem-Alexander was a Patron until 30 April 2013 when he became King of the Netherlands. In May 2014 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, became a Patron of GWP.

Operations and Actions GWP's most important tasks are Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing. This is done through publications, workshops, training courses, meetings, informal exchanges, and through its IWRM Toolbox website. The GWP IWRM Toolbox is a free platform and online database on IWRM with local, national, regional, and global case studies and references. It allows practitioners and professionals to discuss and analyse the various elements of the IWRM process and facilitates the prioritization of actions aimed at improving water governance and management, as well as engaging with a broader community for the solution of water-related problems. GWP also operates with strategic allies through thematic programmes such as the Global Water and Climate Programme, the joint GWP-World Meteorological Organization Associated Programme on Flood Management and the Integrated Drought Management Programme. Key strategic allies include among others: CapNet UNDP, UN-Water and UNEP-DHI Centre.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Global Water Partnership

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Global Water Partnership claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Global Water Partnership before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Global Water Partnership ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Global Water Partnership

In research: Global Water Partnership appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Global Water Partnership in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Global Water Partnership is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics International sustainability organizations, International water associations, Sweden and the United Nations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Global Water Partnership outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Global Water Partnership in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Global Water Partnership means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Global Water Partnership out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Global Water Partnership in simple terms?

Why does Global Water Partnership matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Global Water Partnership?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Global Water Partnership.