The 5th Biennial GEF International Waters Conference, hosted by the Government of Australia in Cairns, North Queensland October 26 through 29, 2009, offers an exciting menu of participative learning opportunities. Pre-conference technical workshops on October 24 and 25 will feature leading Australian experts in complex basin and marine systems, addressing conflicting demands among diverse stakeholders and coping with water scarcity and the technical and societal impacts of climate change.
GEF-IW:LEARN's partnership with the Coral Triangle Initiative and the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts and Islands, aims to help GEF IW projects exchange practical experience in linking freshwater and marine management, and a key objective of this portfolio learning event is to promote sustainable development in basin and coastal communities sharing natural resource systems, to achieve MDGs through the benefits of transboundary cooperation in ecosystem-based management. With an eye to integrated-ecosystem-based management and mainstreaming climate variability and change, this meeting aims to build on the 2009 key freshwater and marine meetings to prepare the GEF IW portfolio for the future. To that end, participants are encouraged read both the Ministerial Statement from the World Water Forum and the Manado Ocean Declaration.
Videos
You can view the IWC5 videos here.