News News

May 2013

Building our business model

Following an encouraging response from stakeholders we have now initiated a Business Model Consultation Group to help us work through some of the key issues as we build the AWS model. If you are interested in participating in this group please email Adrian Sym at adrian-at-allianceforwaterstewardship-dot-org. As a key part of our business model development we are also seeking to improve our understanding stakeholder needs, and to do so we encourage all readers of this newsletter to complete a short survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CFQ7CR5
We will also be working through key issues in a series of topic-specific webinars – a schedule for these webinars will be available in the coming weeks.

Further developments in building multi-stakeholder governance

Following recent consultations and in-depth discussions, the AWS Board has agreed a process for pursuing the transition to multi-stakeholder governance in parallel with the application of the beta AWS Standard and the further development of our business model. More details can be found  on the governance page of our website.

Beta AWS Standard gaining momentum

The Beta AWS Standard, which was released in March 2013, is a fully implementable Standard designed to help companies and water service providers analyse and manage water risk and engage meaningfully with other stakeholders on sustainable catchment management. Many companies, utilities and communities are already taking leadership positions by applying the Beta AWS Standard to both manage their water risks and provide input into the finalization of the Standard.
Applications currently confirmed (on-going or planned) include

BASF achieves gold-level EWS certification in Tarragona, Spain

Our European regional initiative, the European Water Partnership, is proud to announce the first certification according to the European Water Stewardship (EWS) standard at a chemical production site in Europe. The BASF production site in Tarragona, Spain, proved its excellent water management performance via EWS gold-level certification.  Given the importance of water in all its activities, BASF has set ambitious targets for emissions and water withdrawal rates. The principles and requirements of the EWS standard, supports BASF in both raising awareness and reaching its global water goals. For more information please visit http://www.ewp.eu/4071/basf-achieves-gold-level-certification-in-tarragona-spain/

EWP to be European Coordinator of the Water Action Hub

Our European regional initiative EWP and the UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate recently announced a new partnership through which EWP will act as the European Coordinator for the Water Action Hub. For more information please see http://www.ewp.eu/4053/ewp-to-be-european-coordinator-of-the-water-action-hub/ or http://ceowatermandate.org/2013/03/25/ewp-to-be-european-coordinator-of-the-water-action-hub/

Chinese version of Beta AWS Standard

The Chinese version of the Beta AWS Standard now available from our website at http://allianceforwaterstewardship.org/what-we-do.html#water-stewardship-standard


Spanish and Portuguese versions will also be available in the coming weeks.

AWS on Linkedin

We are now on Linkedin! Follow us by logging on to www.linkedin.com and joining our group “Alliance for Water Stewardship”

Recent events

As well as introducing the beta AWS Standard at a dinner reception, our Board and Secretariat members also made several contributions to the Working Conference of the CEO Water Mandate in Mumbai from March 5-7. The first day of the conference was a formal input into the UN’s post-2015 Development Agenda, a process designed to identify priorities and objectives to replace the Millennium Development Goals when they expire in 2015. Contributions from the day’s proceedings can be seen at http://ceowatermandate.org/working-conferences/stewardship-post2015/

AWS Chair, Michael Spencer, and Executive Director, Adrian Sym, both participated in two sessions at the Asia Water Week at the Asian Development Bank headquarters in Manila. The first session was a side event we hosted on the AWS Standard with the second being a session on water stewardship that we co-hosted with World Resources Institute and WWF. Coca Cola FEMSA participated at both sessions alongside Manila Water.

Adrian was also invited by the Ministry of Water Resources to speak at a day-long seminar on water footprinting at the India Water Week. The lively event included participants from a variety of key institutions from India and beyond.

We were also represented at the Water Week Latin America, held in Viña del Mar, Chile. As well as formal participation at a session on water, irrigation and food security, this gathering of stakeholders from all over Latin America gave our Latin America Regional Coordinator, Ricardo Monsivais, the opportunity to present the beta AWS Standard at a side event staged to mark the conclusion of our project with Fundación Chile, one of the organizers of Water Week Latin America.

The US Water Partnership hosted a webinar in April titled “Collaboration for a Water-Secure Future -- Innovative Solutions through the Alliance for Water Stewardship”. Our North American Regional Coordinator, Lisa Downes, presented the Standard in detail and answered a variety of questions from participants.

Alexis Morgan, our Global Water Roundtable Coordinator, represented AWS at two recent events in California. Alexis was a panellist at the Ceres Conference on a session with the title “Wet & wild: assessing & managing agricultural water risks”. Alexis also participated at the WCBSD-US conference “The business of water: scaling up water sustainability solutions in the US”.

Upcoming Events

May 23, Melbourne: Water Stewardship Australia is organizing a workshop “Responding to the global water challenge: leadership, risk management & best practice”. Bookings can be made under http://www.trybooking.com/CULG  or  http://www.trybooking.com/48964. The event will be hosted by National Australia Bank, NAB Auditorium, 800 Bourke Street, Melbourne

May 22nd: The ISEAL Alliance will host a webinar “Standards for a Thirsty Planet: How can sustainability standards promote responsible water use?” at which we will be presenting on how the AWS Standard can reinforce other standards. To register for this event visit https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/155649010

May 22-23, Milan: Our executive Director, Adrian Sym, will present the International Water Stewardship Standard to the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation

May 28-30, Dar es Salaam: Adrian will also be presenting and chairing sessions at the conference on Collective action: reducing shared water risk to support sustainable growth, organized Tanzanian Government and the German Development Cooperation

June 12-13, London: Assistant Global Water Roundtable Coordinator, Nicole Tanner, will participate at the annual conference of the ISEAL Alliance in London. The conference will look at how standards can harness new tools and innovations to deliver greater social and environmental benefits and transform supply chains. For more information, please visit www.iseal.org/conference or email conference-at-isealalliance-dot-org

June 19, Reston, Virginia: Nicole will also participate in the Data Integration Workshop being organized by the US Water Partnership

June 27, Calgary, Alberta: Lisa Downes will speak at the Canadian Water Summit with the theme “Blue Collaboration for Blue Prosperity: A Global Perspective”. More information at http://www.watersummit.ca/

June 18-20, Panama:  Our Latin American Regional Coordinator, Ricardo Monsivais, will be speaking at a Latin American Water Funds Alliance event.

March 2013

Beta Version of AWS Standard Released

AWS Releases Beta AWS Standard

Today, we announce the release of the Beta AWS Standard: the world’s first International Water Stewardship Standard. 

At a reception organized to coincide with the Working Conference of UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate, the Standard was enthusiastically received by the 85 invited guests representing companies, NGOs, multilateral agencies  and other stakeholders. The principles of water stewardship play a large underlying role in the goals of the CEO Water Mandate and AWS alike. The Standard is designed to give companies and utilities a roadmap to follow towards sustainable water use, including engagement with stakeholders and others within their watershed. Building on other water-related tools, the Standard helps to reduce water risk and generate social, environmental and economic benefits across all sectors and regions.

 Organized around six steps, the Beta Standard contains criteria against which performance can be assessed. The Beta Standard is a fully implementable standard and a solid way to reduce water risk. Some elements of the AWS system are still to be put in place, including an appropriate verification system.

 Application of the Beta Standard will begin next week in Brazil in one of 10 confirmed sites from 8 different countries where companies will be applying the Standard and generating a range of benefits including reduced water risk and an effective mechanism to engage with stakeholders. Comments and feedback on the Beta Standard can be submitted via AWS’s website beginning March 22nd (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KKKZH3S). 

 The Beta Standard is the work of a multi-stakeholder committee appointed by AWS to represent the diversity of stakeholder interests from around the world: from industry, public sector and civil society. This committee, the International Standard Development Committee, uses input from stakeholders around the world, including that gathered by AWS regional initiatives.

We'd like to express our sincere thanks to the ISDC, our funders, regional supporters, phase 1 testers and all those involved in the development of this Beta Standard. It has been a monumental effort and would not have been successful without you all. 

 Learn more about the AWS Standard by downloading the Beta Standard here.  Anyone interested in applying the Standard in catchments across the globe is encouraged to get in touch with us at info@allianceforwaterstewardship.org.

 

January 2013

AWS Regional Initiatives driving water stewardship forward

Some of the key inputs into the development of the AWS International Water Stewardship Standard come from our regional initiatives.  At this stage we have four regional initiatives. Learning from their work with local stakeholders is critical as we develop the AWS International Standard that will applicable in diverse contexts around the world. The following three items illustrate important achievements in Europe, Australia and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Water Stewardship Field Trial Report from Australia

Water Stewardship Australia (WSA) has completed its report on the recent full field trial of the Australian Water Stewardship Standard (Draft 2).  The trial involved working with Dairy Australia, Tatura Milk Industries and the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority (GBCMA).  The trial was supported by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA).  The report makes a number of recommendations for ongoing development of water stewardship standards.  It also observes a number of areas where existing practices in the region are good and where changes could improve current practice.  Importantly, the trial has focused on how to deal with complexity of compliance requirements for small producers and how the Australian Standard can work with existing systems.  The GBCMA found the water stewardship system could have considerable natural resource management benefits for the region.  For Dairy Australia, the trial provided an opportunity to assess the performance of existing tools such as its Dairy Self-Assessment Tool and inform the development of targets and action plans in the industry’s sustainability framework. A summary report is available here.  The full report will be available shortly from the WSA website. 

First certifications for European Water Stewardship (EWS)

EWS has awarded its first gold level certifications to two Coca-Cola bottling plants of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. in Dongen, Netherlands and of Coca-Cola Hellenic in Ploiesti, Romania. EWS along with certification body, Control Union, officially handed over the certificates to Coca-Cola January 28th, 2013 in Brussels, Belgium. The EWS Gold level certification signifies the high level to which operators manage these operational sites, having complied with more than 90% of the performance indicators of the EWS standard. To read more about this significant milestone please click here.

Call for applications: AWS Business Model Consultation Group

AWS is establishing a Business Model Consultation Group as a way of harnessing input and influence from diverse stakeholders as we further refine our business model. The main function of the group will be to provide feedback and ideas on issues relating to the refinement of the AWS business model. It is expected that participation will be mainly through e-surveys and occasional teleconferences. Some document revision may also fall within the remit of the group.

The group will not be part of the formal governance and decision-making structure of AWS, rather an external interest group formally convened to support the decision-making of the AWS Board.

We welcome applications for membership of this group up to the end of February 2013. To apply, please send an email to info-at-allianceforwaterstewardship-dot-org stating your name; the sector you most identify with (please choose from a) public sector, b) business or water service provider or c) civil society); the region where you work, and; a short summary description of your interest in joining the Business Model Consultation Group. 

First Field Trial of Beta Version of AWS Standard in Brazil

The first field trial of the beta version of the AWS Standard will take place in Brazil in March (11-15). AWS-Latin American Regional Initiative and The Nature Conservancy in Brazil will conduct the project alongside SANEATINS, the water utility in charge of the drinking water service and sanitation to 75% of the population of Brazilian state’s Tocantins.  Other members of the AWS-LAC’s Coordinating Committee, including the Water Center for Latin America and the Caribbean, will also participate in the project.  Results of this field trial will feed directly into the further development of the AWS Standard. 

Update on development of multi-stakeholder governance for AWS International

Results from our recent consultation on regional delineation and stakeholder chambers have been assessed and will be discussed by the AWS Board at its next meeting on March 3rd. Following this meeting we will be able to publish a next level of detail on membership modalities for AWS International. For previous decisions relating to AWS Board decisions on multi-stakeholder governance please visit http://allianceforwaterstewardship.org/about-aws.html#governance

Climate Action article ahead of COP18

Published by UNEP in advance of each Conferences of the Parties (COP) to UNFCCC, Climate Action features expert analysis and opinion, helping businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Climate Action 12/13 was published ahead of the recent COP 18 in Doha and AWS Executive Director, Adrian Sym, was invited to contribute an article on water resource management in the context of climate change. Adrian used his article to emphasize the importance of water in discussions on the water-food-energy nexus, in particular through stakeholder-driven efforts like AWS. To read the article, please visit http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/bookstore/book_2012/ and navigate to page 146.

International Water Management Institute steps down from AWS Board

After two years of participation, the International Water Management Institute has decided to step down as an AWS Board organization. IWMI feels unable to devote the necessary time and resources to ensure meaningful and effective participation on the AWS Board, but has expressed a wish to take part in relevant stakeholder fora organized by AWS as the International Standard moves from development to implementation. The period of IWMI’s involvement on the Board has seen AWS become established as a key player in water resource management and the process to develop the International Water Stewardship Standard about to reach a significant milestone with the release of the beta version next month. We thank IWMI for their input to-date and look forward to working closely together as water stewardship gains traction in the future.

ISDC meeting in Brussels

The International Standard Development Committee (ISDC) will meet in Brussels from February 6-8 with the intention of reaching consensus on the beta version of the AWS Standard. The meeting will be hosted by the Confederation of European Paper Industries. Following the ISDC meeting, we are planning a number of events and webinars to introduce the beta version of the Standard from March onwards. First of these will be in Mumbai, India, where we are hosting a dinner reception for registered participants of the CEO Water Mandate Working Conference and invited stakeholders.  We will use this event to introduce the beta version and gather initial reactions from invited guests on some of the key issues the Standard will aim to address.

International Water Summit in Abu Dhabi

From 15th to 17th January, the International Water Summit was held in conjunction with the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. AWS was represented in Abu Dhabi by Adrian Sym who spoke on two panel discussions: “Customised Water Solutions for Rural Communities” and “Future Challenges Affecting Water Availability”. The event attracted many water leaders from around the world, with organizers expecting up to 30,000 participants in the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

Upcoming Events

  • ISDC meeting in Brussels from 6-8 February
  • AWS will host a dinner reception to introduce the beta version of the AWS Standard to participants in the CEO Water Mandate Working Conference and invited guests in Mumbai on March 4th.
  • AWS will co-host two sessions at the Asia Water Week, being staged by the Asian Development Bank from March 13th-15th.
  • Water Week Latin America, being held in Chile from March 17th-22nd will provide an opportunity for us to introduce the beta version of the AWS Standard to stakeholders present at that event.

November 2012

ISDC moves towards Beta Version of AWS Standard

The International Standard Development Committee (ISDC) met in October in Dubai, to further refine the next version of the AWS Standard. Dubbed the "Beta Version," since it will be a fully operational version of the Standard intended for field testing, this next iteration of the Standard has been streamlined and simplified in an effort to respond to stakeholder input from the First Draft. The Beta Version will be:

  • A fully operational (or "implementable") version of the AWS Standard, intended for testing and a final round of feedback
  • Released in February, 2013 in English followed by translations in various languages
  • Based around six steps and 33 Core Criteria, with four water stewardship outcomes (called principles in the first draft) embedded throughout the Standard
  • Aligned with a basic plan-do-check-act cycle to help ensure integration into Environmental Management Systems
  • A platform to integrate current leading thinking from related stewardship efforts (metrics, tools, guidance, etc.)
  • Still based around three performance levels (AWS Core, Gold, and Platinum), but will also employ a point system in addition to core criteria at each level
  • Tested throughout the world during 2013 by different sectors in different types of catchments.

The ISDC has also published information relating to decisions taken on the key issues highlighted in the first draft Standard. This information and details on the Beta Version can be downloaded at from  http://www.allianceforwaterstewardship.org/what-we-do.html#water-stewardship-standard 

Multi-stakeholder governance: second consultation now open

Following the decisions taken in October by the AWS Board on multi-stakeholder governance, a second stakeholder consultation has been launched to understand expectations regarding

  • Delineation of regional initiatives as part of the multi-stakeholder governance for AWS International
  • Definition of membership chambers for AWS-International

To access the consultation, please visit: http://www.allianceforwaterstewardship.org/get-involved.html#consultations
For a summary of AWS Board decisions on multi-stakeholder governance, please visit http://allianceforwaterstewardship.org/assets/documents/Governance_decisions_summary_October2012.pdf 

South Asia: First AWS consultation meeting in India

The first South Asia stakeholder consultation specifically on the AWS Standard was held in New Delhi on 18th October 2012. AWS was invited by the Centre for Responsible Business (CRB), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and WWF India to present the first draft of the International Water Stewardship Standard for stakeholder input. The event, which was held at the offices of WWF India in New Delhi, was attended by around 30 participants from a variety of sectors. Coming immediately prior to the 5th meeting of the ISDC in Dubai, the event provided an excellent opportunity for the perspectives of Indian stakeholders to feed into the deliberations of the ISDC as they develop the beta version of the AWS Standard.

As well as a presentation on the AWS Standard and related group work, the event also featured presentations from FICCI on its corporate water stewardship through its Water Mission and the UN CEO Water Mandate on its collective action tools. Presentations and a full meeting report (including participant list) can be accessed athttp://allianceforwaterstewardship.org/where-we-work.html#south-asia  

We would like to express our thanks for the cooperation and support of CRB, FICCI and WWF India, and the interest and energy expressed by all participants. For more information, please contact Adrian Sym.

Latin America and the Caribbean: Water Symposium in Peru

On September 20th, Ricardo Monsivais, the AWS-Latin American and Caribbean Coordinator presented the AWS process to the participants at the IV Water Symposium “Promoting consensus towards water and development”, organized by the Peruvian Association of Mining, Petroleum and Energy (SNMPE). Leaders from the academia, government and from the most important mining and energy companies from Peru attended to this event. We thank SNMPE for facilitating our participation at this important event. For more information, pleasecontact Ricardo (rmonsivais-at-tnc-dot-org)

North America: Milwaukee Water Council Summit

The 2012 Milwaukee Water Council Summit provided an opportunity to discuss progress and share experiences with key partners from AWS.  The first event was the International Partners Forum, held on 8thOctober. This brought together participants from three of AWS’s regional initiatives (Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and Australia) to discuss completed field work regarding water stewardship, lessons learned, and future plans.  Amongst the items under discussion were projects in Australia, China, North America, Latin America and Europe. 

The following day AWS hosted a session titled called “Developing a Global Water Stewardship Standard through the Alliance for Water Stewardship: Lessons from the Field”.  AWS Board chair, Michael Spencer, together with secretariat members, and partners from regional initiatives from North America and Latin America presented their practical experiences of testing water stewardship standards.

AWS is proud to be a partner of the Milwaukee Water Council and we would like to express our thanks for enabling us to present at this year’s summit and for facilitating the presence of international speakers.  The Milwaukee Water Council hosts the AWS regional initiative in North America, and we look forward to our future collaboration, both in North America and internationally.

For additional information, please contact Lisa Downes  (ldownes-at-tnc-dot-org)

South Africa: International Conference on Freshwater Governance

In November, the Water Research Commission and the Department of Water Affairs – South Africa, organized the International Conference on Fresh Water Governance for Sustainable Development. The event had a diverse programme allowing for scientific exchange, panel discussions, open debates, and participation from youth and young water professionals.

Together with the Water Stewardship Council of Southern Africa (WSCTSA), AWS convened a special session on “Water Stewardship - Building Innovative, Cross-Sectoral Partnerships for Sustainable Watershed Governance”. The session showcased case studies and explored ideas on how water stewardship can help to drive improvements in both organizational performance and catchment governance.  Presentations focused on sectors as diverse as dairy, mining, catchment restoration and the complementary role of stewardship in the water related governance realm in South Africa.

For AWS, both the session and the conference as a whole were very useful in engaging South African stakeholders around the forthcoming beta version of the AWS Standard and the multi-stakeholder governance model for AWS International. More details, including presentations from the session, can be accessed athttp://www.allianceforwaterstewardship.org/where-we-work.html#africa

Europe: GlobalG.A.P Summit

Eurpoean Water Stewardship (EWS) Director, Sabine von Wirén-Lehr attended the 11th GLOBALG.A.P. Summit, which took place this year in Madrid. The three day event discussed the complex nexus between food safety, supply chain management, and sustainable resource management, highlighting the importance of water. As a member of the GLOBALG.A.P. Water Committee, EWS presented at a round-table discussion on critical importance of water availability in agriculture and the need for long-term strategies to ensure this availability. For more information, please contact Cristina Brabyn (cbrabyn-at-ewp-dot-eu)

Australia: WSA field trial presented at Eco Summit

As part of the EcoSummit 2012 in Columbus, Ohio, AWS Co-Chair Michael Spencer presented lessons from his work field tesing the Australian Standard in the dairy industry in Goulburn Broken Catchment. The trial was undertaken in partnership with the Goulburn Broken CMA, Dairy Australia and Tatura Milk Industries.For more information on this work please contact Water Stewardship Australia.

Upcoming Events

  • AWS plans to participate in the Abu Dhabi International Water Summit, January 15-17
  • The next meeting of the International Standard Development Committee is scheduled for February 4-6

September/October 2012

UNEP Joins Board of AWS

In August, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner confirmed his acceptance of the invitation for UNEP to join the AWS Board.  By participating on the AWS Board, UNEP joins some of the world’s leading players in sustainable water resource management. UNEP joins AWS at a critical juncture, with the release of the second draft AWS Standard expected near the end of 2012, subsequent field testing of this draft and the process to develop multi-stakeholder governance for AWS underway. Improving water resource management, in particular increased consideration for ecosystems, is a significant part of UNEP’s work in advocating for the transition to the “green economy”. UNEP’s technical and organizational expertise, and outreach capacity will be an enormous asset to AWS as we build the Standard and an effective international water stewardship system.

AWS Joins U.S. Water Partnerships

This past June, at the Rio +20 Conference, the Alliance for Water Stewardship was proud to announce its commitment to the U.S. Water Partnership (USWP). The U.S. Water Partnership (USWP) is a U.S.-based public-private partnership (PPP) established to unite American expertise, knowledge, and resources, and to mobilize those assets to address water challenges around the globe, especially in the developing world. To date more than 40 American public, private and civil society organizations are dedicating over half a billion dollars of in-kind and cash support to water-related projects around the globe over the next five years.

As part of the USWP, AWS has pledged to:

  • Work with other members of the U.S.Water Partnership to understand the relative roles of water stewardship and multi-use services in Africa within the scope of a field testing program on the second draft AWS Standard.
  • Work with other members of the U.S. Water Partnership to understand the role of water stewardship in increasing water security in South Asia through the field testing of the AWS standard.
  • Contribute to the development of governance for U.S. Water Partnership, in particular passing on learning gained in the development of multi-stakeholder governance for AWS.

We'd like to reinforce Secretary Clinton's message from June's USWP launch, “If you represent a region or a country in need of cross-sector water solutions, please reach out to us as this partnership was formed primarily to serve your needs. If you are an American citizen or organization with water knowledge and resources to share, I invite you to join the effort.”

Stockholm World Water Week

In August, AWS once again had a strong showing at the Stockholm World Water Week, an annual gathering of water professionals. EWS hosted a panel discussion, “Forever Together-Apart” on supply chain management. During this session representatives from various sectors expressed a need for the involvement of suppliers in water management and identified the benefit of integrating EWS principles to drive concrete actions and address common risks. Participants also emphasized the benefit of water stewardship standards as a voluntary opportunity to learn from the implementation process and move beyond water accounting practices to measure water.


The topic of collective action was another hot topic at World Water Week, where AWS Board member, Sabine von Wirén-Lehr, also participated in the panel "Taking Collaborate Actions for Water Sustainability within the Watershed". There she stressed the need to move beyond the fence-line to solve the complex water management issues.

Alexis Morgan participated as an invited speaker at events organized by both the CEO Water Mandate and the Council of Great Lakes Industries (CGLI). Alexis, who is AWS's Global Water Roundtable Coordinator,  spoke on how the AWS Standard can act as a framework to integrate various water-related data, tools, and initiatives. The presentation stressed the fact that data, information, tools and initiatives are all separate (but equally necessary) pieces of water stewardship, and that the AWS Standard integrates these things into a consistent, verifiable, framework.  

International Standard Development Committee – Call for nominations

We would like to extend the call for nominations for membership on the International Standard Development Committee. Applications will be accepted up to November 16th, 2012.  Please note that the member MUST be from the public sector. While the representative may come from any region aside from Europe (which currently has the maximum of three representatives), preference will be given to North Asia/China, South Asia, and Central Asia/Middle East (regions which currently have only one representative).

The ISDC is the primary decision-making body in relation to the AWS standard content and is charged with synthesizing stakeholder input from throughout the world to form the International Water Stewardship Standard. 15 positions make up the full ISDC.

For more information on the ISDC and the selection process, including the Terms of Reference, and general expectations of ISDC members, please visit: http://allianceforwaterstewardship.org/water_roundtable.html

Applications will be reviewed after the closing date of 15th November and selected candidates contacted. If they agree to participate, their names will be put forth for public commentary for a two-week period.

The ISDC is meeting in October with the following meeting likely to be held in mid-2013.

If you are interested in applying please email Alexis Morgan (alexis.morgan-at-wwfus-dot-org). 

ISDC responses to feedback on first draft AWS Standard

As noted in our last newsletter, we received comments from over 400 stakeholders in 26 countries on the first draft AWS Standard (including 200 from AWS-LAC's Regional Forum participants and 130 from AWS-NA's regional stakeholder meetings). Stakeholders (40% from the Business and Water Service Providers, 38% from Civil Society and 22% from Public Sector Agencies) provided valuable feedback in particular in the following areas:

1) how Important Water Areas were determined,
2) how the Area of Influence was determined and its role in the Standard,
3) what the role of implementers and promoters should be in the Standard,
4) how the Standard should integrate indirect water use and supply chain issues,
5) how the Standard should be structured (steps, levels, principles, etc.) 
 
Recognizing the need to address these issues, the ISDC generated the following short responses:
1) Response on Important Water Areas
2) Response on Area of Influence
3) Response on Implementers and Promoters
4) Response on Indirect Water Use and Supply Chain
5) Response on structure of the Standard
 
The beta version of the AWS Standard will reflect these, and other, changes which aim to improve the Standard and meet the expectations of a diverse range of stakeholders. The beta version is expected to be released in early 2013 and will be implemented in a range of sectors and settings worldwide. The beta version will also include opportunities for stakeholder feedback via public consultation. More details on testing the beta version of the AWS Standard, including the testing methodology, is available from the AWS website at http://allianceforwaterstewardship.org/what-we-do.html#water-stewardship-standard

AWS Board agrees outline governance model

At their October 4-5 meeting in Washington DC, the AWS Board of Directors agreed an outline membership model that will form the basis of multi-stakeholder governance for AWS. A critical input into this agreement was stakeholder feedback received during the recently-concluded consultation on developing multi-stakeholder governance for AWS. More details on the agreed model will be published in the coming days.

Desk-top studies of AWS Standard in Latin America

During August 2012, the AWS-LAC Coordinating Committee developed four desk-top studies of the first draft AWS Standard in Chile, Ecuador and Mexico. In Mexico, the AWS Standard was assessed in the state of Queretaro, with two fiduciaries of FEMSA - IMBERA, a refrigeration corporation, and PTM, a plastic manufacturing company. This exercise was conducted jointly with The Nature Conservancy, FEMSA Foundation and the Tec de Monterrey’s Water Center for Latin America and the Caribbean. In Chile, along with Fundación Chile, we visited Vitacura Municipality within the city of Santiago. In Ecuador, we worked with ETAPA, the water utility from the city of Cuenca.

 
With these exercises, private and public water leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean contributed to the construction of the second iteration of the AWS Standard and obtained benefits through learning of their activities’ impact on water resources.
 
These accomplishments are the result of a two-year process for developing the AWS Standard and building capacity across Latin America.  Partnerships with the private and public sectors have been fundamental in engaging diverse stakeholders in water stewardship.

North America events

As part of the EcoSummit 2012 in Columbus, Ohio, AWS Co-Chair Michael Spencer presented lessons from his work field tesing the Australian Standard in the dairy industry in Goulburn Broken Catchment. The trial was undertaken in partnership with the Goulburn Broken CMA, Dairy Australia and Tatura Milk Industries.For more information on this work please contact Water Stewardship Australia.


On October 3rd, Lisa Downes, AWS-North America Regional Coordinator, gave the keynote address at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s “Summit on Sustainability and the Environment:  Green World, Green Region".

On October 8th, AWS, The Nature Conservancy and The Water Council hosted an AWS International Partners Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a focus on testing the beta version of the AWS Standard.  For additional information about this event, please contact Lisa Downes  (ldownes-at-tnc-dot-org)

On October 9th, AWS hosted a session at The Water Council’s Summit titled: “Developing a Global Water Stewardship Standard through the Alliance for Water Stewardship: Lessons from the Field. The session included presentations of desk-top studies in North and Latin America and field testing in Australia.

Water Stewardship Australia (WSA) commits to stronger alignment with AWS

The WSA Board held its annual strategy review in July during which it confirmed its commitment to strengthen the relationship between water stewardship work in Australia and the International Water Stewardship Standard process. In doing so, the WSA Board considered a number of factors: current differences between the first draft international standard and the Draft 2 Australian standard; outcomes of the recent International Standard Development Committee (ISDC) meeting in Mexico, and; the desire of Australian participants in the water stewardship system for a single global system.

WSA will prepare a careful analysis of gaps between the international and Australian standard when the next version of the international standard is published.

European airport pilot study

The result of EWS's joint Airport Pilot Study is now available to the public. To read more on the interesting study of Malaga, Goteborg and Brussels Airports please visit www.ewp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Pilot-Studies-Article+One-Pager-v3.pdf 

Upcoming Events

  • October 18, Istanbul, Turkey, AWS will host a Standard Engagement side meeting in conjunction with the International Network of Basin Organizations Europe Meeting (INBO 2012). Lunch will be provided during the hour and a half session (12:45-14:15) that will be held at the Istanbul Grand Cevahir Hotel & Convention Centre. Admission is free, but space is limited, so register by contacting Ayça Aksoy (aksoy-at-wwf-dot-org-dot-tr) 
  • October 18, New Delhi, India, The Centre for Responsible Business (CRB), WWF and FICCI are hosting a meeting on water stewardship. As well as an in-depth presentation and feedback session on the AWS Standard, the event will include presentations on the Water Mission of FICCI (the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) and the CEO Water Mandate’s Water Action Hub. In this way we aim to emphasize the way the AWS Standard is being designed to complement both local approaches and globally applicable tools, as described above in the report from Stockholm Water Week. The meeting will be held at Venue: WWF-India, 172-B Lodi Estate, New Delhi. For more information, please contact Adrian Sym  (adrian-at-allianceforwaterstewardship-dot-org). 
  • October 22-24, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, AWS will host the 5th International Standard Development  Committee Meeting
  • October 23, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, AWS aims to host a public reception, details forthcoming. For additional information, please email Nicole Tanner (nicole.tanner-at-wwfus-dot-org).
  • November 7, Drakensberg, South Africa, AWS is hosting a special session on water stewardship at the International Conference on Fresh Water Governance for Sustainable Development. For more information, please visit the conference website at http://www.wrc.org.za/FreshWater/Pages/default.aspx

July 2012

Rio+20

In June, AWS Executive Director, Adrian Sym, was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, attending events surrounding the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – “Rio+20”. The following is a summary of AWS involvement in Rio+20 together with Adrian’s reflections on this significant meeting of the world’s leading players in sustainable development.

Corporate Sustainability Forum

AWS was a strategic partner and participated in several sessions of the Corporate Sustainability Forum, hosted by the UN Global Compact from 15-18 June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Forum, titled “Innovation & Collaboration for the Future We Want”, was held in advance of, and based on the six theme areas of, the main Rio+20 Summit: Energy and Climate; Water and Ecosystems; Agriculture and Food: Social Development; Urbanization and Cities; and; Economics & Finance of Sustainable Development.

One the first full day of the Forum AWS co-hosted a session with the UN CEO Water Mandate which aimed to find answers to one of our most pressing questions: how can the international water stewardship system be used by promoters of water stewardship who do not seek to have their own performance verified?. The session was titled “Corporate Water Stewardship and Innovative Partnerships: An Imperative for Improved Water Resource Management”.

The agenda explored how voluntary mechanisms like the AWS Standard can be used by public and private sectors and civil society to promote innovative partnerships for sustainable water resource management, and what the drivers and barriers are to achieving cross-sectoral uptake. As well as my presentation on potential promoters of water stewardship and the CEO Water Mandate’s description of the range of collective action tools being developed,  the session featured presentations by Ambev and WWF on the Cyan Movement, a multi-component water conservation campaign in Brazil; the Carbon Disclosure Project on how collective action on shared water risk can simultaneously reduce the risk of individual investments and provide shared benefit at a basin level, and; the Nexus approach being promoted the German Federal Ministry for  Economic Cooperation and Development.

The following day I participated, along with others including Intel Corporation, Molson Coors Brewing Company, Sasol, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, WWF, Ceres and CDP, in a CEO Water Mandate session focusing on Emerging Best Practice in Corporate Water Disclosure. The energetic discussion from this session which also highlighted areas of common concern will inform the Corporate Water Disclosure Guidelines being developed by the CEO Water Mandate.

Business Leaders’ Communique: “Make Water Sustainability a Priority”

During the Corporate Sustainability Forum, I was pleased to be asked to give my thoughts at a press conference on the release of a communique signed by 45 chief executive officers calling on governments attending Rio+20 Summit to make global water security a top priority. In the communique, the signatories, all of whom are endorsers of the CEO Water Mandate and represent a diverse range of global companies and regions, announced a commitment to advance corporate water management practices. The communique also outlines a range of public policy actions they believe governments should undertake to make meaningful progress on water and to better leverage the resources and capabilities of the international business community.

At the press conference I welcomed the communique, in particular the emphasis on long-term and collective approaches. The communique was noteworthy also as it was an unusual entry of business into the policy arena, demonstrating a new level of engagement by business in addressing the most pressing development challenges. As Igal Aisenberg, CEO of Netafim who introduced the communique, pointed out, as well as outlining specific commitments by signatory companies, it also represents a call to action for governments to take specific steps to put our world on a course to achieve global water security.

Rio reflections

Despite widespread disappointment with the Rio+20 Outcome Document, there were many positives that can be taken from the overall Rio program. In the very challenging political and economic environment in which the intergovernmental negotiations were taking place, the Corporate Sustainability Forum highlighted the need to look to all sectors as we attempt to address problems of ever-growing complexity. Whereas previously we had looked to governments to provide leadership and solutions, in particular those in Europe and North America which are now struggling to deal with teetering economies and soaring levels of sovereign debt, the need for cross-sectoral leadership came through strongly in Rio. Governments, the private sector and civil society all have important and complementary roles to play. This is a continuation of a movement that has been evident for some time, and events in Rio, in particular the Corporate Sustainability Forum and commitments like the communique on water sustainability, have accelerated this trend.

Another trend that was very evident in Rio is the need for innovative and locally applicable solutions. This is where the AWS Standard can play an important role by driving improved water stewardship practices through a system that is internationally consistent and local applicable. And Rio provided valuable lessons and reminders as we build the AWS system, not least of which is the necessity of strong regional networks.

From an AWS perspective there is a tremendous opportunity to help drive collective action that involves leaders from all sectors. Our work has relevance for business and water service providers who seek  to have their performance as good water stewards recognized; for government and multi-lateral agencies and civil society who seek to engage the private sector in watershed-level solutions, and; for businesses who seek to mitigate risks in their supply chains, investment or financial decisions.  Our challenge now is to build on the momentum coming out of Rio to ensure that the AWS Standard and water stewardship program is part of the solution. 

ISEAL Conference

The ISEAL Alliance – the global association for sustainability standards – held its annual conference in Bonn from 29-31 May. From AWS’s perspective, there were two sessions that were most significant. The first looked at the potential evolutionary trends of sustainability standards as they aim to keep pace with changing environments and the needs of businesses, producers and other key stakeholders.  The session provided valuable insights for AWS as we build the international water stewardship system. AWS Director Mireille Perrin Decorzent was one of the presenters at this session.

Another significant session explored ways in which different sustainability standard systems can interact with each other to increase efficiency and deepen impacts. The AWS Standard is being designed to complement and mutually reinforce other standards and at this session Executive Director, Adrian Sym, stressed the need to build in aspects of interoperability into the field testing of the AWS Standard. Registered users can access reports of both sessions and the rest of the ISEAL conference programme from the ISEAL website.

AWS Governance

AWS is committed to transitioning to an international, multi-stakeholder and membership-based organization, and are seeking stakeholder input to help guide this process. On July 21 we opened a public consultation on developing multi-stakeholder governance for AWS. The purpose of this consultation is to inform the AWS Board of the primary considerations when developing the main elements of multi-stakeholder governance for AWS. The consultation takes the form of a short questionnaire focusing on the following elements:

Regional representation
Membership
Decision-making bodies
Decision-making hierarchy
Stakeholder participation
This consultation will be open from July 21st until September 18th, 2012. Our preferred method of submission is using the online questionnaire using the link below. Input will also be accepted by completing the questionnaire in the MS Word document, available using the detailed information link below.
To participate in the online consultation, please visit our consultations page.


 

International Water Stewardship Standard Update

ISDC Meeting in Mexico

From June 25-27th, the International Standard Development Committee (ISDC) met in Mexico City, Mexico, to review the input from stakeholders on the first draft AWS Standard (see below for more on the feedback). The ISDC received hundreds of comments and greatly appreciated the time and energy of stakeholders for their valuable feedback. The ISDC reviewed the feedback in advance and spent the three days discussing how they would modify the Standard based upon stakeholder input. There was considerable debate on many aspects of the Standard including the structure of the Standard, clarification of concepts including Important Water Areas and Area of Influence, and developing the concept of certification levels. Public conclusions from the meeting will be posted once they are confirmed by the ISDC.

The Latin America and Caribbean Coordinating Committee also kindly hosted an afternoon discussion and an evening meal where stakeholders had the opportunity to interact with the ISDC and AWS Secretariat.

Responses to the Phase I stakeholder input will be grouped by discussion area, and posted on the AWS website (as well as by newsletter) by the end of August, 2012. The second draft will be developed between now and the fall, with a targeted release date of late November, 2012.
If you have any questions about the meeting or the Water Roundtable process, please contact Alexis Morgan.

Call for Organizations to Help Organize Regional Meetings

We would like to extend a call to organizations interested in hosting regional meetings to bolster the amount of feedback and stakeholder engagement in Phase II of the Water Roundtable. The meetings would take place between November, 2012 and July 2013. As well as playing a key role in the development of the Standard, host organizations would have the opportunity to gain insight into stakeholder perspectives on water stewardship. For more details on hosting regional meeting (or meetings), please contact Alexis Morgan. 


Review of Stakeholder Feedback on the First Draft International Water Stewardship Standard

From March 13 – June 15th, stakeholders were invited to provide feedback on the first draft of the first International Water Stewardship Standard (“AWS Standard”). We would like to extend our thanks to all of those who spent the time to review the first draft and provide invaluable feedback to the ISDC.

We received comments from over 400 stakeholders in 26 countries (including 200 from AWS-LAC's Regional Forum participants and 130 from AWS-NA's regional stakeholder meetings). While comments were varied and comprehensive, there were several common points of feedback. Those that commented (40% from the Business and Water Service Providers, 38% from Civil Society and 22% from Public Sector Agencies) had the most to comment on:
1) how Important Water Areas were determined,
2) how the Area of Influence was determined and its role in the Standard,
3) what the role of implementers and promoters should be in the Standard,
4) how the Standard should integrate indirect water use and supply chain issues,
5) the largest (and most varied) comment grouping centered on how the Standard should be structured.

We have organized and coded the comments into a number of specific topic areas. The ISDC is currently in the process of considering these comments and then providing official responses to each of these different areas. We expect the ISDC’s public responses to be made available online by the end of August, 2012.

Regional Update

North Asia--Draft Standard stakeholder engagement session held in China

Representatives from the private sector, academia, and civil society gathered on June 6 at The Nature Conservancy’s Beijing, China office to discuss the first draft of the International Water Stewardship Standard. The group was joined by prominent environmentalist Ma Jun, a recipient of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize and a former member of the AWS International Standard Development Committee.

Topics of discussion included, among others, business reputation and incentives around water stewardship;  the challenges surrounding creating a universal standard that will apply in diverse regions and sectors; the role of government;  and the importance of raising consumer and business awareness in China.

Feedback from the gathering was shared with the ISDC as an input from the first public comment period on the draft Standard. An event summary is available here.
 

North America--Public meetings held in North America 

The Alliance for Water Stewardship North America Regional Initiative held public meetings in Washington, D.C. and Toronto, Ontario to solicit feedback on the first draft International Water Stewardship Standard.  Reports from each of these events, as well as from a related session at the Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable meeting in Washington, D.C., are available on the North America section of our website. 

For more information please email AWS North America Regional Coordinator Lisa Downes or call +1 414 248 8095.

Latin America and Caribbean--The 3rd AWS-LAC Regional Forum

The 3rd AWS-LAC Regional Forum was held on June 6-7, 2012 in Medellin, Colombia, with the great hospitality and assistance of Empresas Publicas de Medellin (EPM). This Forum gave the opportunity to present the first draft of the AWS-Standard and to compile recommendations for teh ISDC, based on AWS-LAC’s existing recommendations from 2011 and new input directly to the draft. Click here for full article.

For more information please contact AWS-LAC Regional Coordinator Ricardo Monsivais.   

Water Stewardship Australia conducting multiple field trials

Full Tatura Field Trial Now Underway
Following the completion of a desktop review on April 20, Tatura Milk industries, Dairy Australia and the Goulbourn Broken Catchment Management Authority have been working together on a full field trial of the Australian Water Stewardship Standard. This field trial commenced on May 30, and aims to test the applicability of the WSA Standard, taking into account the experience of the industry, catchment and region, whilst engaging stakeholders in discussion about the potential of a water stewardship system. A number of trial days have been completed in Tatura and Shepparton including a tour of the milk factory. A Reference Group meeting is scheduled for 27 June.

Riverland Field Trial June 18: Key stakeholders engaged in desktop field trial

WSA hosted a second desktop review of the Australian Water Stewardship Standard at Langhorne Creek in the South Australian Riverland on 18 June. Participants in the Review included The South Australian Murray Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board, the SA Department of Water, the SA Department of Primary Industries, the Winemakers Federation of Australia, the Langhorne Creek Winemakers Association and a number of large and smaller local wineries. The workshop aimed to understand the implications of the Standard for the catchment and the wine industry, to engage key stakeholders in the water stewardship approach, and to identify elements of a group certification approach that will make water stewardship compliance more accessible. Preconditions for a full field trial were discussed and scoping work is currently underway.

Europe: European Crop Protection Industry committed to EWS

As part of the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) ‘Time to Change’ initiative, an industry project was initiated in 2012 with the aim to audit production sites for crop protection products in the EU using the EWS standard. Most of the larger companies (BASF, Bayer Crop Science, DuPont, Monsanto) are already committed to start an EWS pre-screening study at one of their production sites in 2012. The kick-off meeting for this pilot project phase will be held on the 6th of September 2012 at ECPA offices in Brussels. With this project, the crop protection industry takes the lead in Europe to promote sustainable water use in its quantitative and qualitative aspects at chemical production sites. For more information visit the EWP website

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

  • August 29th, Stockholm, Sweden: CGLI-WBCSD Workshop, Stockholm International Water Week
  • September 29th-October 3rd, WEFTEC Conference, New Orleans, USA
  • October 9th-10th, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Milwaukee Water Council Summit "Building the Water Centric City"
  • October 22nd-24th, Location TBD: 5th International Standard Development Committee
  • November 5th-7th, South Africa: International Conference on Freshwater Governance for Sustainable Development

April 2012

Reminder: Less than 60 days left in Phase I Public Comment Period

 Just a small reminder to everyone that there are roughly sixty days left in the public comment period, which closes June 15, 2012. The AWS encourages all individuals to provide input on the draft AWS Standard and suggest improvements.

To access the draft AWS Standard, please go here: http://allianceforwaterstewardship.org/what-we-do.html#water-stewardship-standard, and to provide comments via the online feedback survey, please
go here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M8YFSRS.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Alexis Morgan, the Global Water
Roundtable Coordinator at alexis.morgan@wwfus.org.

AWS at the 6th World Water Forum

The AWS was strongly represented at the World Water Forum in Marseille. In addition to launching the

first draft International Water Stewardship Standard, the AWS Secretariat staff and partners promoted
water stewardship at a number of events throughout the Forum. This included an interactive panel
discussion regarding the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Initiative on March 15 at the Mexico
Pavillion. To hear more about this event click here or email Ricardo Monsivais, Latin America and
Caribbean Regional Coordinator, rmonsivais@tnc.org.


The AWS would like to express our gratitude to all those who made water stewardship a focal point for
action at the Forum. Together, we can help ensure our water is protected for people and nature today
and tomorrow.

April Upcoming Events-Save the Date!


From now through June 15, AWS will be organizing and taking part in a number of meetings around the globe to share the draft AWS Standard, engage a variety of stakeholders and encourage input during the first public comment period. The following events are confirmed, with others currently in the planning stage:

April 4. Alexis Morgan, global water roundtable coordinator, spoke to approximately 80 people on
a webinar hosted by 2Degrees. The recorded webcast is available at:
http://www.2degreesnetwork.com/groups/water-risk-and-strategy/resources/international-waterstewardship-
standard-help-shape-future-sustainable-water-use-recording/

April 18. Adrian Sym, Executive Director, spoke at the South African Water, Energy and Food
Forum, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Click here for more information on AWS at this event.

April 23. Adrian Sym, Executive Director, spoke at a meeting of the UN Global Compact Network
Indonesia. Click here for more information on AWS at this event.

April 26. A second webinar was hosted by 2Degrees, recorded webcast available via the 2Degrees
link above.

April 26. AWS co-hosted an event with Deloitte and WWF in Toronto, Canada on “Water: From
shared risk to shared opportunity – Moving towards better water stewardship”

May 23. AWS public meeting, Washington, DC, USA

May 29-30. ISEAL Public Conference 2012, Bonn, Germany

June 6-7. AWS public meeting, Medellin, Colombia

June 16. Just ahead of Rio+20, the AWS and CEO Water Mandate will co-host a session at the
UN Global Compact's Corporate Sustainability Forum. Details to come.

Please contact Sarah Davidson, the Global Regional Initiatives Coordinator, at sdavidson@tnc.org for
more information, to participate, or if you are interested in helping to host a meeting in your area.

ISDC Status Update- Application deadline extended to May 20th, 2012

ISDC Status Update: The AWS Board thanks all of those individuals who applied for the open slot on the

International Standard Development Committee (ISDC) and is happy to announce Axel Dourojeanni has
been selected to the ISDC as representative from the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

In addition, the AWS would also like to announce that there is one additional position available from
Northern Asia (the region that is made up by China, Mongolia, Macau, and Taiwan). The existing Civil
Society Representative, Mr. Ma Jun, after a year of assistance has had to step aside due to time
constraints, and the AWS would like to thank him for his assistance to date and his ongoing support for
the work.

Applications will be accepted up to May 20th, 2012.

The ISDC is the primary decision-making body in relation to AWS standards content and is charged with
synthesizing stakeholder input from throughout the world to form the International Water Stewardship
Standard. 15 positions make up the full ISDC.


For more information on the ISDC and the selection process, including the Terms of Reference, and
general expectations of ISDC members, please visit: http://allianceforwaterstewardship.org/what-wedo.
html#water-roundtable

Note - all applicants should ensure they are free for the next ISDC meeting which will be held in Mexico
City, June 25-27th, 2012.

If you are interested in applying please email Alexis Morgan (alexis.morgan@wwfus.org).

March 2012

International Water Stewardship Standard

AWS is pleased to announce the release of the First Draft International Water Stewardship Standard for Public Consultation. The first public consultation will be open to stakeholders until June 15th, 2012.

The Standard aims to support water users in taking appropriate actions to evaluate and improve their impacts on watersheds. It aims to build on other water-related tools, helping users to reduce their water risk and generate social, environmental and economic benefits. The Standard is designed for global application in all relevant sectors.

The draft Standard focuses around four principles: water governance, water balance, water quality, and important water areas. Each principle includes criteria and indicators against which compliance will be measured. The Standard recognizes both performance and process, aiming to both ensure rigour and maximize uptake. The Standard is accompanied with guidance materials for interpretation and, ultimately, a third-party verification system. Click here to view the draft Standard and related documents, and provide your feedback.

AWS coordinating session at 6th World Water Forum

AWS will coordinate a thematic “target and solution” session at the 6th World Water Forum, taking place in Marseille, France. The session s – “Corporate Water Stewardship: Moving Towards Verifiable Sustainable Water Management” – will focus on the work of a small group that is leading on work towards the achievement of the target “By 2015, more than 20 major businesses and their supply chains, from multiple business sectors, have developed water footprint impact mitigation and sustainable water management certification programmes”. This group consists of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Nalco, Sealed Air and CEO Water Mandate. The session will take place on Tuesday March 13th from 14:30 to 16:30. More information is available at the World Water Forum website

International Standard Development Committee – Call for nominations

AWS would like to extend the call for nominations for membership on the International Standard Development Committee. Applications will be accepted up to April 10th 2012.  Please note that the member MUST be from the public sector. While the representative may come from any region aside from Europe (which currently has the maximum of three representatives), preference will be given to China, South Asia, Central Asia and Latin America (which currently have only one representative).

The ISDC is the primary decision-making body in relation to AWS standards content and is charged with synthesizing stakeholder input from throughout the world to form the International Water Stewardship Standard. 15 positions make up the full ISDC.

For more information on the ISDC and the selection process, including the Terms of Reference, and general expectations of ISDC members, please visit: http://allianceforwaterstewardship.org/water_roundtable.html

The call for nominations will last for four weeks, and close on April 10, 2012 at which point the applications will be reviewed and selected candidates contacted. If they agree to participate, their names will be put forth for public commentary for a two-week period.

The ISDC will next meet in Latin America from June 25-27th, 2012.

If you are interested in applying please email Alexis Morgan

January 2012

Summary of this months news:

Can be found here in pdf format.

China water stewardship dialogue

On 5th January AWS co-hosted a Water Stewardship Dialogue in Beijing with two of our Board Organizations, WWF and The Nature Conservancy. More than fifty participants heard about the respective programs of the host organizations, before discussing ways in which to advance water stewardship in China.

The afternoon was devoted to a discussion around the AWS International Standard and ways to ensure Chinese stakeholders are fully engaged in the Standard development process. Participants came from a diverse range of backgrounds, including local and international businesses, academia business associations and NGOs.

As a result of this event we are working with stakeholders to stage follow-up event and test draft versions of the Standard at suitable locations in China later in the year.

 

AWS Latin America Regional Forum

AWS Latin America Regional Forum

On November 29-30, 2011, the AWS-Regional Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean (AWS-LAC) organized the 2nd AWS-LAC Regional Forum.

This event gathered 34 representatives from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico, and the main purpose was to analyze, compile and validate criteria for water stewardship standards.

The information analyzed at this forum was the result of the organization of the 5 workshops held in 2011 in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico. A full report from the Forum can be accessed here.

 

European Water Stewardship Launch

AWS Board Organization European Water Partnership launched European Water Stewardship (EWS) on November 24, 2011 at the Royal Academy of Belgium in Brussels. Representatives of industries, agriculture, public authorities and civil society discussed and identified common opportunities and challenges in order to take concrete steps towards sustainable water management.

European Water Stewardship is designed to provide the tools to make the complementary efforts of the private sector and enforced implementation of European legal requirements part of daily business practice to create long-term solutions for water management on a river basin scale.

During the panel discussion on the EWS implementation in industry, Joppe Cramwinckel of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development underlined "EWS provides a tool for public participation in the river basin management also interms of shared responsibility."

Eckhard Koch of BASF SE emphasized that mitigation of water risks and suitable response strategies should not stay
restricted on local and seasonal level, but tools like the EWS standard should also be taken up with a global perspective. EWP’s participation in AWS is helping work toward that goal

 

Nexus Conference in Bonn

In November, the Federal German Government hosted an important conference on Water Energy Food Nexus. Alongside the CEO Water Mandate and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, AWS was co-host one of the conference's hot topic sessions on Water Stewardship and Food and Energy Security: Exploring the Role of Corporate Water Users and Polluters. A panel of experts built on the session background paper with discussions of their experiences and ideas.

To access the background paper for this event please click here.

 

Progress update on development of International Water Stewardship Standard

Since July 2011, the International Standard Development Committee (ISDC) has been steadily working via meetings and calls to pull together the initial draft AWS Standard.

Assisted by the AWS Secretariat, the 15-member ISDC has met twice (Sri Lanka in July, and Milwaukee in October) and held bi-weekly calls, to decide on the framework, structure and content of the first AWS draft Standard. The next ISDC meeting, to be held in Melbourne, Australia at the end of January and hosted by Water Stewardship Australia, will further refine the first draft. Depending on progress made in Melbourne, we hope to be able to release the first draft Standard in March.

This will be followed by a public consultation period of at least sixty days. Please log on to our website for notifications of public release and methods of submitting feedback.

 

Australian stakeholder workshop

Founding AWS Board Organization, Water Stewardship Australia, is holding a stakeholder workshop in Melbourne on the 1st and 2nd of February. This event is an important opportunity for Australian stakeholders to influence the future development of the global water stewardship standard and system.

The workshop will consider changes to the Australian water stewardship standard. Experience gained in Australia will in turn influence development of the global water stewardship standard and system.

Members of the International Standard Development Committee (ISDC) will be in Australia to discuss their development work and learn from the Australian experience.

A number of ISDC members are expected to participate in the WSA workshop. The WSA Technical Advisory Committee will meet in mid-January to finalise proposed changes to the Australian water stewardship draft standard to be considered at the February workshop.

 

Presentation of AWS work in Kenya

AWS Board member Nick Hepworth of Water Witness International travelled to Kenya in December to present AWSs workaround Lake Naivasha at a workshop on carbon and water management in horticultural exports from East Africa.

In 2010 AWS worked with GIZ and Marks & Spencer to test Australian and European draft Standards in the Lake Naivasha area. The lake is an important centre for horticulture and a significant source of Kenya's export revenue.

The workshop was coorganized by the International Trade Centre, the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya and PIP.

Presentation on Urban Water Stewardship

The theme of the recent IWA Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was Pioneering Water Solutions in Urbanizing Areas.

This gave AWS to present some our ideas on applying water stewardship in urban environments and gather feedback from experts in urban water management and planning.

Based on the input received at the Congress we will continue to work with key stakeholders (including our Board Organizations) to explore the concept and its potential value.


Report on North America Public Meeting

A report summarizing the North America Regional Initiatives first AWS public meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (October 25, 2011) is available here.

Additional public meetings will be held throughout North America in Spring 2012. For more information, please contact Lisa Downes at 414/248-8095 or ldownes@tnc.org

 

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