Four regional training courses on Water, Agriculture, Climate Modelling and Mainstreaming of climate change adaptation are planned for 2009-2010. The first training course on Integrated Water Resources Management took place in Kampala in May 2009. The second training course on Climate Modelling will take place in Niger in November 2009. 

Regional course on Integrated Water Resources Management

The UNEP-DHI Centre for Water and Environment, CAP-Net and Nile IWRM-Net successfully held a regional training course on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and climate change from 25 to 29 May 2009 in Kampala, Uganda. The course brought together 35 water researchers, trainers, policy makers and practitioners from Eastern African countries (Burundi, DR Congo, Tanzania, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda).

The training course aimed to build capacity at regional and national levels to ensure that stakeholders in the water resources sector have increased knowledge on how to best address local and regional challenges of climate change in water resources planning and management. The course introduced several conceptual approaches and tools to adapt to climate change, including training in Disaster Risk Management, impact of climate change on coastal resources, climate proofing of programmes, policies and plans, the Water Resource Issues Assessment Method (WRIAM) and responses to climate change through IWRM, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), and Integrated Coastal Area and River Basin Management (ICARM). Participants and facilitators also discussed climate change scenarios of the African continent, shared lessons on existing climate change adaptation strategies within the region, and conducted a field trip to Lake Victoria.

The training course was a joint effort of two existing initiatives on climate change adaptation and IWRM: the CC DARE programme and the CAP-Net/UNDP Training of Trainers programme.

For more information about the course and its outcomes, please contact UNEP-DHI Centre for Water and Environment at udc-water@dhi.dk.