Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe

Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE) was established in 1998. It involved ten countries - Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Ukraine and Moldova joined GWP CEE in 2006 and 2007 respectively.
The region of Central and Eastern Europe, covered by Global Water Partnership (GWP), has a total area of over 2.03 million km and is mostly located in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea Black Sea basins. Rivers in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland discharge their flows to the Eastern Baltic Sea. The second group of countries - Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine - is located in the Danube River basin which flows into the Black Sea.
Water resources in the CEE region are important for the development of its countries, providing water for consumption, sanitation, irrigation, industrial use, navigation, fishing, recreation, and other purposes. Ecosystems depending on water form the backbone of the region’s biodiversity including lakes, river basins, wetlands, coastal areas and groundwater. Throughout the region many water ecosystems ecosystems have suffered from degradation or are threatened by pollution, overuse of surface and groundwater and habitat losses. The application of integrated approaches to water management, use and development, which meets the demands of the population, and satisfies the needs of water ecosystems, remains a key challenge.
Programmes and action
GWP Central and Eastern Europe consists of twelve country water partnerships that provide an inclusive and neutral platform for stakeholders. With the enlargement of the European Union enlargement of the European Union in January 2007, ten countries in the region are European Union members. This opens up the opportunity for new joint ventures within the union. The country water partnerships also act as integrated water resources management facilitators in the non- European Union countries.
The programme objective is to support countries with integrated approaches to more sustainable water resources development, management and use. In line with its Regional Strategy 2009-2013, GWP Central and Eastern Europe plans to undertake several initiatives including increased multi-sectoral dialogues, and raising political will for adoption of integrated water resource management (IWRM) principles.
Since 2002 GWP CEE has an observer status with the International Commission for the Protection of Danube River.
Public Participation
There has been a steady increase in interest for public participation, as well as recognition for it on different governance levels, in a wide range of sectors and contexts, including environmental management. To respond to this, GWP CEE established the Public Participation Task Force covering Eastern Baltic region and the Danube River basin.
Sustainable Sanitation
Another task force has focused on sustainable sanitation. It seeks alternative and decentralized solution to sanitation services in IWRM context for rural population, constituting 20-40% of the total population in CEE countries. As a first step, a group of experts prepared a regional book, Sustainable Sanitation in Central and Eastern Europe: Addressing the Needs of Small and Medium-Size Settlements, providing an comprehensive overview of the sanitation state in Central and Eastern European countries, methodological guidance to open planning process in sanitation, case studies of successful implementation of alternative approaches in sanitation in the region and in Sweden and Germany, and finally an overview of European Union legislation related to application of alternative and decentralized solutions to sanitation. This action also contributed to the International Year of Sanitation 2008.
Flash Floods
Since 2003, there has been an ongoing study on flash floods under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization - GWP Associated Programme on Floods Management. A manual, Guidance on Flash Flood Management-Recent Experiences from Central and Eastern Europe, has been published that provides easily accessible guidance on flash flood management to mayors, provincial administrators and the National Meteorological and Hydrological Service. This will help improve the efficiency of the professional centers to forecast and more successfully save properties and the lives of communities in flash floods prone areas.
GWP Vision and Mission
vision is for a water secure world. Its mission is to support the sustainable development and management of water resources at all levels.
GWP was founded in 1996 by The World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the Swedish International Development Agency to foster integrated water resources management and to ensure the coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources by maximising economic and social welfare without compromising the sustainability of vital environmental systems. During the past 12 years, the GWP Network has become active in 13 regions and over 70 countries.
The network is open to all organisations involved in water resources management: developed and developing country government institutions, agencies of the United Nations, bi- and multi-lateral development banks, professional associations, research institutions, non-governmental organisations, and the private sector.
The network is supported financially by Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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