As I sit in my seat at 33,000 ft heading home, I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the very full and fascinating Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Global Forum, which has just wrapped up in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh.
It was a wonderful three days filled with brilliant minds, excellent insights, laughs, challenges, and an obligatory smoky, Islay scotch whisky — or two.
For those of you who don’t know AWS, it is a member-driven organization founded in 2009 that is dedicated to advancing water stewardship around the world.
While primarily focused around a global standard, AWS also operates training programmes, builds awareness and works with partners on water stewardship projects in various parts of the world.
Sessions covered an array of issues from water and agriculture to context based water targets to how we can scale water stewardship through clusters and industrial parks.
But given my long-term involvement in AWS, the 2nd Global Forum gives me the opportunity to look at the ‘bigger picture’.
Firstly, it’s safe to say that AWS is no longer the small band of passionate individuals and organizations it was when the journey began a decade ago.
While AWS has only been fully operational for two years, it has built up a global presence with nearly 100 members as well as 7 certified sites, over 40 registered sites, more than 20 accredited service providers, and hundreds of sites implementing the AWS standard.
It has partnership agreements in place covering North America, Europe, South Africa, East Africa, China and Asia Pacific. It has also trained hundreds of people on water stewardship.
All in two years: an impressive feat for an organization with an effective staff complement of around 10.
However, it is not just this handful of people that have made all this happen.
Indeed, AWS’s greatest asset is the collective wisdom and experience of its membership.
To take WWF as an example: along serving on AWS’s board and technical committee, WWF helped to support the first certified site in the world (Ecolab Taicang in China) and implementation at additional sites in China, Pakistan, South Africa, and beyond.
We’ve been critical in establishing regional water stewardship networks in Pakistan, China and India. We’ve helped to bring corporate partners to the table and helped AWS to grow its membership.
More importantly, we’re not nearly done. Water stewardship continues to be desperately needed in an era of growing shared water challenges. Corporate water risks are increasingly material to investors as the magnitude of their financial impact on companies’ bottom lines escalates.
So we are continually seeking new ways to advance both water stewardship and AWS.
The re-launch of our upgraded Water Risk Filter in January 2018 will involve two exciting features: (1) a new AWS-aligned mitigation toolbox that will provide users of the Water Risk Filter with customized responses tied to AWS criteria; and (2) a new valuation module that will help to highlight the value proposition behind water stewardship to various parties.
We will also be working hand-in-hand with AWS to increase awareness about the fact that a robust water stewardship response is the best strategy to mitigate water risks.
Quo vadis is a Latin expression meaning: “where are you going?”
As I look down on vast clouds holding the moisture that brings our planet to life, it strikes me that not only has AWS come a long way, but that looking forward, it’s travelling to exciting new places.
With our collective voice, we have the ability to direct ever more companies and investors along the stewardship path and so deliver on the promise of water use that is socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial.
Are you in? We are.
Alexis Morgan is the lead in WWF’s Water Stewardship. He is based in Vancouver, Canada. amorgan@wwfint.org
