INTERNATIONAL WATERS LEARNING EXCHANGE & RESOURCE NETWORK

IW:LEARN

3rd Targeted Regional Workshop for GEF IW projects in east Europe and Asia-Pacific

01 Mar 2018 | by eve@iwlearn.org
The 3rd Targeted Regional Workshop for Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters (IW) Projects in east Europe and Asia-Pacific will be jointly organized by the International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network (IW:LEARN), a GEF project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) & United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and executed by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.

Together with our partners from the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), as well as representatives from Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) and the Capturing Coral Reef & Related Ecosystem Services (CCRES) project, we bring you a workshop dedicated to Knowledge Platforms, Innovative Tools, Legal and Institutional Frameworks, Benefit Sharing, and Economic Valuation.

GEF IW:LEARN Background

The GEF IW:LEARN project (www.iwlearn.net), whose latest phase became active in 2016 and runs through 2020, has as one of its primary activities, the organization of regional workshops for GEF IW projects in three GEF regions: Latin America & the Caribbean, Asia & the Pacific and Africa. The workshops are also about transferring management approaches, tools and best practices amongst GEF projects and partners. Together with project-project twinning exchanges and the GEF Biennial International Waters Conference, these face-to-face training activities are part of a cycle of learning and partnership building across the portfolio and its partners.

Workshop Objectives

The overall aim of the workshop will be to raise capacity among GEF IW projects and partners on aspects of:

  • Accessing a collection of case studies, manuals, technical reports and other resources in the region;

  • Experience in legal and institutional frameworks of River Basin Organisations;

  • Long-term sustainability of coastal ecosystems with models, tools and knowledge products to support planning;

  • Technical and practical information that will help them gain a deeper understanding on the steps leading to operationalising benefit sharing mechanisms and agreements in the context of transboundary water resource management;

  • Relevant and contextually appropriate aspects of the Economic Valuation methodology and replicate appropriate experience of the work of existing projects and global work by partners;

Workshop Outcomes

At the end of the workshop, participants are expected to:

  1. Familiarise themselves with the SEAKnowledge Bank platform;
  2. Gain insight into the best practices of legal and institutional frameworks in River Basin Organisations;
  3. Gain practical understanding of tools to enhance local governance to reduce conflict and co-manage resources, facilitate stakeholder engagement, systems analysis, diversifying and enhancing business enterprises, and behavior change;
  4. Understand different types of concepts and principles related to benefit sharing;
  5. Understand the methods and approaches to assess the economic value of freshwater and marine ecosystem services