Thanks to the visit to the water council of Chira-Piura by the Dutch ambassador in Peru, a new impulse has been given to the partnership.
In the central square of Piura, a young professional gave an explanation about the Blue Deal to the ambassador and representatives of the agricultural council and the national water authority. Afterwards, they visited projects that should prevent flooding and improving agricultural irrigation.
The afternoon ended with a visit to the local government.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report on water governance in Peru. Although Peru is making progress in water management, there are still issues with flooding, drought, pollution and access to clean water.
The OECD report provides an analysis of water governance in the country and gives policy recommendations to strengthen the multisectoral approach to water in Peru. For example, it recommends improving the use of economic instruments to protect and sustainably use water resources, its sources and related ecosystem services. Another recommendation is to strengthen regulatory conditions to improved access to safe drinking water and sanitation in urban and rural areas.
The KIWI learning programme recently organised a lecture by professor Guy Alaerts about the unruly nature of international water management and solutions for complex water problems.
Water managers worldwide are looking for integrated solutions for complex water problems. Major investments are often required to become climate proof, but finding financing is difficult. Water managers and financial institutions do not know where to find each other and converting globally available financing into concrete projects on a large scale is difficult. Watch the lecture below. The lecture is in Dutch, but can be viewed with subtitles.
On Thursday 21st January 2021 the annual water event ‘Expo Agua’ took place in Peru, showcasing the latest developments in water management and technology.
Expo Agua Peru is the country’s main water expo, where technological innovations and solutions for water resource management are presented. The event brings together leading companies in the field of water management to share experiences and solutions to the problems and challenges that face Peru and the Andean region.
During the ‘Expo Agua‘ event in Peru, the Peruvian Blue Deal partnership looked back on the partnership’s creation, its added value and the future. The National Water Authority and the water councils of Tumbes and Chira-Piura were also present.
TU Delft and Erasmus University, in collaboration with Dutch Water Authorities, have launched a study into water management knowledge exchange. The universities are investigating which lessons the Dutch regional water authorities take abroad.
As part of the study into water management knowledge exchange university researchers are looking at the lessons learned at an individual level, group level and organisational level. The aim is to find out exactly what effect these lessons have on organisations.
A questionnaire is sent out via the Dutch Water Authorities foreign coordinators. It is hoped that insight can be gained into the possibilities and limiting factors of international knowledge sharing.
The 2021 annual plan of the Blue Deal programme has been approved by the steering committee. The partnerships will continue their work in 2021 to improve water management in 14 countries.
The focus of the Blue Deal Annual plan 2021 is on three crucial elements: sufficient knowledge and skills, a well-functioning organisation and collaboration with key stakeholders.
As COVID-19 continues into 2021, the Blue Deal partnerships focus on online learning and training in the first six months. This is not easy in all countries, for example due to slow internet connections or recently initiated partnerships. Therefore, the partnerships also focus on additional local representation. Dutch Water Authorities hopes to physically meet its partners again in the second half of 2021.