The good folks at IWMI, who won the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize (considered water's Nobel Prize) in 2012, have taken a step to make groundwater more visible on a global scale. IWMI has recently launched the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP), a global partnership for sustainable groundwater management.
There are currently about 16 partners, including my three favorite professional societies: AWRA (just joined), NGWA, and IAH. GRIPP is actively seeking partners - both strategic and implementing.
Karen Villholth is Coordinator of GRIPP and Christopher Dass Patacsil is its Secretary.
From the GRIPP homepage:
The Groundwater Challenge
Groundwater use is soaring. It is being pumped at unprecedented rates for irrigation, industry, and urban development. As surface water supplies dwindle, we are now making withdrawals from our subterranean water bank that cannot be sustained. Groundwater is also increasingly being degraded because of human pollution. Both are damaging the environment and imperilling food supplies, jobs and health.
Yet in some regions, groundwater remains plentiful. If managed sustainably, it has the potential to boost agricultural production and lift millions out of poverty.
Climate change is likely to intensify our dependence on groundwater, so the need for solutions is becoming critical. Without coherent policies, attaining many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be challenging.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Nevertheless with new technologies, smart governance and community action, there is huge scope for progress.
Here is the note I received from Christopher when I requested membership for AWRA:
Thank you for showing interest in the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP). GRIPP is a global initiative committed to finding sustainable groundwater solutions to ensure food security, climate resilience, and economic growth for the benefit of both present and future populations. It is targeted at groundwater-dependent, food-producing regions of the world, particularly in low income and emerging economies. Through the creation of long-term partnerships, GRIPP intends to fill knowledge gaps, share transferable solutions and scale up successes for communities around the world.
The groundwater agenda for the 8th World Water Forum and the Groundwater Visibility Initiative that you have shared are important undertakings and we are glad to see that you believe as strongly in tackling groundwater issues as we do (see our GRIPP news stories here and feel free to sign up for our newsletter).
In addition to attending and contributing to bi-annual GRIPP partnership meetings (contingent on continued GRIPP funding), partners will share lessons and news related to the GRIPP mission, support the coordination and implementation of joint activities and projects, as well as contribute to GRIPP information products and the GRIPP website.
Membership is open and free. By becoming a strategic partner of the GRIPP network, the AWRA will join a number of other key partners in furthering the mission of sustainable groundwater management. By subscribing as a partner, we assume you represent AWRA as the contact person, and that the partnership is agreed internally in your organization. Please provide us with the best email and phone number at which to reach you. Please, also provide a reasonable resolution version of the logo of your organization that you want to use for the GRIPP partnership. We update our materials on a bi-monthly basis and will include your logo during our next revision.
Together, we can protect this vital and endangered resource. We hope you join us in this commitment to water security for the benefit of all.
See also the note for prospective partners attached. Download GRIPP_Information_Note _2016.08.03
Here is the invitation flyer: Download Invitation_GRIPP SWWW_Final
More information:
IWMI is to be congratulated for launching this initiative. Membership is free; have your organization consider membership.
I am sure some of you are asking the big question: why isn't the acronym 'GSIPP'?
Click here for information on the Groundwater Visibility Initiative and click here for the AWRA-NGWA-IGRAC 8WWF groundwater agenda.
Enjoy!
'I have the impression that all this will end very badly." - Charles De Gaulle, on the California freeway system
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