Water Roundtable Launch

On June 15 -16, 2010, a group of 90 public, commercial, and civil society stakeholders from around the world got together in Brussels, Belgium, and launched the Alliance for Water Stewardship’s (AWS) multi-year Water Roundtable (WRT) (the “Launch”). The WRT will be the keystone stakeholder engagement process being used to develop international water stewardship standards. At the Launch, core presentations covered everything from “Why are we here?” to “How can we build agreement?” During the WRT working group sessions, which were full of engaged and lively discussion, WRT participants tested and refined both the AWS’s rationale for its work, and its preliminary models for international water stewardship standards. The AWS gained valuable feedback from its initial group of stakeholders at the Launch; the path ahead for developing an international water stewardship program is clear, challenging, and exciting.

• A Water Stewardship Program can provide both short and long-term benefits to the actual participants in such a program--businesses and water service providers--as well as to civil society members, different levels of government and government agencies, and other stakeholders with important roles and responsibilities on water issues;
• A leadership group within the larger WRT participant pool (with participation coming from all of the regional water stewardship initiatives) needs to be developed. This group will be called the Water Roundtable Steering Committee (WRTSC). Furthermore, there are three considerations for the WRTSC. First, the WRTSC needs to be put together in a thoughtful, careful way, so as to ensure that proper regional and sectoral interests are represented and actively involved with the work of the WRTSC.  Second, the WRTSC needs to have clear and comprehensive guidance developed for it by the AWS as to how it will function. Third, the WRTSC will need to determine the proper way to work with AWS regional water stewardship initiatives to develop global water stewardship standards with regional variability, and will also need to determine how best to build all of the other aspects of a permanent global water stewardship program.
• There are any number of ways for interested stakeholders to participate in the work of the AWS:  decision-making roles, advisory roles, financial support, and at different “levels” of the work too: the WRT level, regional water stewardship initiative level, or in a sectoral, technical, organizational governance planning, or other similar role.