The Coca-Cola Company and Stockholm World Water Week

Oct 22, 2014 4:00 PM ET
Greg Koch

What Do a Mongolian Herder, a Beer Brewer and Coke's Global Water Stewardship D…

A little-known meeting took place at Stockholm World Water Week which, in my opinion, was the most impactful and most promising meeting of the week. In a second-floor conference room of the hotel adjacent to the conference venue, the 2030 Water Resources Group convened an all-day meeting of country partners from around the world where WRG is active: Mexico, Peru, Tanzania, India, South Africa and Mongolia.

We joined WRG from their start as we saw the power of convening multiple representatives of industry and civil society to engage governments to define, explore and implement policy transformation that closes water supply gaps. WRG has made great strides and this was not better reflected than the best practice sharing and way forward discussions held in that conference room.

I sat with a Mongolian herder, a water resource minister, a beer brewer, an agriculture minister secretary, an agriculture company, a water-sector transparency NGO, an energy company, a miner and many more. These were all part of the multi-stakeholder convening groups from the WRG countries. They were there to reflect on their progress and challenges, as well as to learn from similar groups from other countries. I was amazed at the diversity represented and the power their commitment to solve water resource issues brings. Collective action through mutual understanding, respect and action is clearly a key part of solving the many water resource challenges we all face.

Click here to read this story and more from Greg Koch: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/coca-cola-unbottled/what-do-a-mongolian-herder-a-beer-brewer-and-cokes-global-water-stewardship-director-have-in-common