From theory to practice: International GLOWA workshop on water resources management in the Volta basin


September 28, 2006.  

Seventy-five scientists and representatives from around 50 ngos, governmental institutions and international organizations, coming from six African and seven non-African countries have addressed water related issues in West Africa. An international workshop was held on the occasion of the inception of the third research phase of the GLOWA Volta project. The event took place in the Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in Information & Communications Technology in the Ghanian capital Accra from September 28-30 2006.

 

The workshop was officially opened by the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing in Ghana, Ms. Cecilia Abena Dapaah. She stressed the importance of building capacity among Ghana’s new generation of scientists who will take the lead in addressing urgent questions of how to introduce integrated management of water resources.

 

The executive Director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), the lead institute of the GLOWA Volta project, Professor Paul Vlek, said: "Capacity building is an important goal of the GLOWA project and more than 24 students have achieved a PhD degree in the framework of the project so far. Two thirds of the students are from African countries". He also pointed to the role of science in developing practical and applicable solutions for development issues: "Our philosophy is that science has a role to play in improving living conditions of the poor, especially by developing ways to provide better access to clean water resources for the most vulnerable".

 

Mr. Achim Zickler of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) who attended the conference as head of a German governmental delegation visiting the GLOWA Volta project stated that "GLOWA's integrated research on natural and socio-economic sciences on the hydrological cycle under global change conditions is a successful pioneer work within environmental research. It is a completely new approach and therefore of essential importance for research on water management. The GLOWA Volta project works in close cooperation with the stakeholders and the work is accepted by the local residents and decision makers. This is smoothening the way for political decisions and international cooperation".

 

The GLOWA Volta project is part of a BMBF funded umbrella program called “Global Change in the Hydrological Cycle” started in 2000. The program, highly recognized both nationally and internationally, considers the impacts of global changes on the hydrological cycle and aims at providing scientifically based simulation tools for a sustainable, future-oriented management of large river catchments.

 

The GLOWA project in the Volta basin is one of the five projects in this program. It was started in 2000 and its third and final research phase is to continue until 2009. In this phase, the scientific simulation models that have been developed and the findings of the anthropological and socioeconomic studies conducted so far, are going to be integrated with the final goal of putting the research results into practice. By strengthening and intensifying the cooperation and integration of the local and regional stakeholders as well as the project partners, a gradual takeover by the local community under the lead of the United Nations University in Ghana is envisaged.



Contact

Alma van der Veen

Phone.:
+49-228-73-1846

Diese Webseite verwendet Cookies

Diese Website verwendet Cookies – nähere Informationen dazu und zu Ihren Rechten als Benutzer finden Sie in unserer Datenschutzerklärung am Ende der Seite. Klicken Sie auf „Ich stimme zu“, um Cookies zu akzeptieren und direkt unsere Website besuchen zu können.
Read more