More than 120 local, national and international delegates and speakers are gathering in Durban this week to participate in the Sharing and Caring for Water 2017 conference.
The gathering from Thursday to Saturday is co-hosted by The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa NPC (WESSA), eThekwini Municipality and the Global Participatory Water Management Network (GPWMN).
Organisers said in a statement that the challenges and successes of government and civil society in working together to manage the sharing and caring of water resources would be high on the agenda.
“A key document will also be drawn up which will serve as Africa’s presentation to the World Water Forum, which will be held in Brazil in 2018.”
Speakers will include Ariel Silva and Pedro Domanicky of UN-supported international water management network GPWMN, Professor Michael Kidd from WESSA and Dr V Naidoo of the South African Water Research Commission.
Various sessions and workshops will be held which will focus on participatory water governance initiatives at local, regional, provincial and national government as well as elsewhere on the African continent.
Topics include:
- Supporting education for sustainable development in the national school curriculum using the “eco-schools” programme as a case study;
- Maintaining community-based projects;
- Fostering community and corporate partnerships changing water management practices; and
- Starting river projects which empower communities living on or near rivers and their responsibility to improve river health.
Other presentations will include the exploration of several areas. These are:
- Innovative waterless sanitation solutions;
- The restoration of natural ecosystems;
- The raising of awareness among students and teachers in matters related to sustainable water use and enhancement of water resources; and
- Challenges facing local water and sanitation municipal departments relating to catchment dynamics beyond municipal boundaries.
For further information, and for the full list of speakers, contact Margaret Burger [email protected]