GIZ: Addressing shared water risks with the private sector

In a recent survey of 315 companies on the Global 500 Index, 59 per cent report exposure to water-related risks (Carbon Disclosure Project 2011). The most common cause is water scarcity, caused by a growing supply-demand imbalance and exacerbated by climate change. The Water Futures Partnership, founded in 2009 between SABMiller, WWF and GIZ, has taken a range of innovative approaches to help the private sector tackle these risks where they also affect society, known as shared water risks.

The partnership facilitates public-private-civil society collective action to improve water management in selected watersheds across three continents.

Activities include river restoration, pollution control, wastewater treatment and eliminating thirsty invasive plant species.

All partnerships are looking for ways to institutionalise their lessons and to acquire new partners at local level to increase their impacts.

Further information from: robin.farrington@giz.de and charlotte.breyer@giz.de (programme develoPPP.de)