UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate Launches Global Water Action Hub
World’s First Platform to Unite Stakeholders on Water Stewardship Projects; Companion Guide Also Released
(3BL Media) Stockholm - August 29, 2012 - The UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate initiative today announced the launch of a global Water Action Hub – the world’s first on-line platform to unite companies, governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders on a range of critical water projects in specific river basins around the planet.
The launch of the Water Action Hub was accompanied by the release of a beta version of the CEO Water Mandate’s Guide to Water-Related Collective Action, which provides a step-by-step approach to water-resource-related collective action.
The launch of the Water Action Hub and the Guide took place at the CEO Water Mandate's ninth working conference during World Water Week in Stockholm.
“Given the scale of water challenges, there is a need for organized and readily accessible information to help businesses understand their options for collective action on water issues, particularly whom they can work with in a particular region of interest,” said Gavin Power, Deputy Director of the UN Global Compact, and Head of the CEO Water Mandate. “The Water Action Hub is designed to help companies and other organizations more effectively understand which stakeholders are active in particular river basins and any relevant water-related initiatives these stakeholders are undertaking. It is potentially transformational.”
The core of the Water Action Hub online tool is a map-based data management system that facilitates match-making by allowing users to identify potential collective action opportunities via river basins, organizations, projects, and collaboration action areas.
“With the Water Action Hub to help companies identify potential collaborators to improve water management in regions of critical strategic interest, and the Guide to Water-Related Collective Action to help them effectively develop a collective action engagement, the CEO Water Mandate is helping companies move into strategic partnerships that safeguard water resources, while delivering value to economies, business, and the community,” said Jason Morrison, Program Director of the Pacific Institute, which serves as part of the Secretariat of the CEO Water Mandate.
The Water Action Hub was developed by the CEO Water Mandate in partnership with the International Business Leaders Forum; Deloitte; GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development; and the Pacific Institute.
While the Water Action Hub provides a platform for local project implementation, the companion beta version of the Guide lays out how effective collective action in sustainable water management is both the key to approaching shared risk successfully and addressing a substantial point of vulnerability for many companies.
“The CEO Water Mandate is producing this Guide because collective action done right leads to a strong sense of shared interests, shared responsibility, and shared benefits,” said Morrison of the Pacific Institute and co-author of the Guide. “The collective action process emphasizes joint, proactive engagement that leads to better and stronger outcomes than available through unilateral action.”
The Guide was developed by the CEO Water Mandate in partnership with Ross Strategic; Pegasys Strategy and Development; the Pacific Institute; and the Water Futures Partnership.
The CEO Water Mandate Guide to Water-Related Collective Action can be downloaded free of charge from the Pacific Institute website at www.pacinst.org/reports/water_related_collective_action and on the CEO Water Mandate website at www.ceowatermandate.org. The Water Action Hub is live at www.wateractionhub.org.
About the United Nations Global Compact
Launched in 2000, the United Nations Global Compact is a both a policy platform and a practical framework for companies that are committed to sustainability and responsible business practices. As a multi-stakeholder leadership initiative, it seeks to align business operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to catalyze actions in support of broader UN goals. With 7,000 corporate signatories in 135 countries, it is the world’s largest voluntary corporate sustainability initiative.
About the Pacific Institute
The Pacific Institute is one of the world’s leading independent nonprofits conducting research to create a healthier planet and sustainable communities. Based in Oakland, California, the Institute conducts interdisciplinary research and partners with stakeholders to produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity. The Pacific Institute works to change policy and find real-world solutions to problems like water shortages, habitat destruction, global warming, and environmental injustice.
