WaterAid Signs Up to Global Initiative on Water Stewardship
New York, April 17, 2013 /3BL Media/ - International charity WaterAid has joined over one hundred companies, governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders as part of the world’s first online platform to advance critical water projects in specific river basins around the planet.
WaterAid has added its projects in key river basins to the Water Action Hub, an online platform designed to assist stakeholders to efficiently identify potential collaborators and engage with them in water-related collective action to improve water management in regions of critical strategic interest.
The Water Action Hub is an initiative of the UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate and was launched at the CEO Water Mandate's ninth working conference during World Water Week in Stockholm last year.
Cecilia Chatterjee-Martinsen, Chief Executive at WaterAid Sweden, said: “We are very happy to be part of the Water Action Hub. It is a sign of the importance of collaboration across sectors and the increased commitment of many international businesses to water stewardship.
“There has been some very encouraging progress so far on water stewardship, especially on issues of water resource management and waste water management. WaterAid look forward to working with businesses to achieve similar collaborative efforts on safe water, sanitation, and hygiene issues as well.”
Added Gavin Power, Deputy Director of the UN Global Compact and Head of the CEO Water Mandate: “We are thrilled to welcome WaterAid, one of the leading NGOs focused exclusively on water, sanitation, and hygiene, to this global platform, which at its core is designed to catalyze collective action in order to produce widespread positive impacts in societies around the world. This will be critically important in terms of making continued progress on the Millennium Development Goals, especially in the area of sanitation, as well as achieving broad results in the post-2015 era.”
At 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 region, organization, project, and collaboration action area.
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.
“Collaborations that harness the resources and expertise of different sectors, from business to civil society are vital to solving the global water and sanitation crisis,” said Jason Morrison, Technical Director of the CEO Water Mandate and Program Director at the Pacific Institute, adding “The Hub’s continued growth to include organizations such as WaterAid, will be key to ensuring these collaborations thrive.”
As a complement to the Water Action Hub, the beta version of the CEO Water Mandate’s Guide to Water-Related Collective Action, also released at last year’s World Water Week, lays out how effective collective action in sustainable water management is key to approaching shared risk successfully and addressing a substantial point of vulnerability for many companies.
Visit the Water Action Hub at www.wateractionhub.org. Download the Guide to Water-Related Collective Action at www.ceowatermandate.org/resources/mandate-research-and-guidance or http://www.pacinst.org/reports/water_related_collective_action/.
The CEO Water Mandate, launched in July 2007 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is a public-private initiative designed to assist companies in the development, implementation and disclosure of water sustainability policies and practices. Led by the United Nations Global Compact in partnership with the Pacific Institute, the CEO Water Mandate offers a unique action platform to share best and emerging practices and to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships to address the problems of access to water and sanitation. The CEO Water Mandate has been endorsed by nearly 100 companies from a range of industries and sectors. www.ceowatermandate.org
The United Nations Global Compact is 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, labor, environment and anti-corruption, and to catalyze actions in support of broader UN goals. With more than 7,000 corporate signatories in over 135 countries, it is the world’s largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative. www.unglobalcompact.org
WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. The international organisation works in 27 countries across Africa, Asia and the Pacific region to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the world’s poorest communities. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 17.5 million people with safe water and, since 2004, 12.9 million people with sanitation. www.wateraid.org
The Pacific Institute, one of the world’s leading independent nonprofits conducting research to create a healthier planet and sustainable communities, serves as the operational arm of the CEO Water Mandate. Based in Oakland, California, the Institute conducts interdisciplinary research and partners with stakeholders to produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development and social equality. The Pacific Institute works to change policy and find real-world solutions to problems like water shortages, habitat destruction, global warming, and environmental injustice. www.pacinst.org
Contacts
Cecilia Chatterjee-Martinsen
WaterAid
cecilia.chatterjee-martinsen@wateraid.se
Gavin Power
UN Global Compact
Jason Morrison
Pacific Institute
