Collective Action to Address Water Security (2021)

Detailed Description

This article is Part II in a new series from The Nature Conservancy that focuses on collective action and nature-based solutions for water security. Part II outlines why collective action for corporate water users is key to addressing water risk, acknowledging the pros & cons and recommends several best practices for stakeholders.

As discussed in Water Security and Business (Part I of III in this package), businesses face many challenges when addressing water security including: safe access to water, health and sanitation; water quality and quantity; extreme weather events; and water governance. Water governance refers to the political, social, economic and administrative systems in place that influence water’s use and management. Essentially, who gets what water, when and how, and who has the right to water and related services, and their benefits.

While some challenges can be partially addressed unilaterally, effective water governance requires stakeholders within a basin to come together to create sustainable water management plans. One stakeholder cannot drive progress toward reaching a sustainable watershed unilaterally. Thus, any efforts to address water security at scale require multi-sector collaboration, involving the private and public sectors, and civil society.

Collective action can further public sector priorities and minimize negative impact to watershed health. Collective action can take many forms, but one that is gaining momentum is the implementation of nature-based solutions. Nature-based solutions offer some of the most effective and sustainable ways to improve water security, and they frequently offer additional benefits for communities where they are implemented, including improved agriculture, job creation and climate resilience.

Read more here.

Learn more by reading Part 1 and Part III.

Find the whole series here.