| Term | Definition | Source |
| Baseline conditions | The initial period over which an activity will be monitored, and against which progress can be assessed. Baseline conditions establish the status (qualitative or quantitative) of the water challenges. | Adapted from ISEAL Code of Good Practice 20101 |
| Catchment | The area of land from which all surface runoff and subsurface waters flow through a sequence of streams, rivers, aquifers, and lakes into the sea or another outlet at a single river mouth, estuary, or delta; and the area of water downstream affected by the site’s discharge. Catchments, as defined here, include associated groundwater areas and may include portions of water bodies (such as lakes or rivers). In different parts of the world, catchments are also referred to as watersheds or basins (or sub-basins). | AWS 20192
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| Collective action | Coordinated engagement among interested parties within an agreed-upon process in support of common objectives. Water-related collective action refers to specific efforts to advance sustainable water management, whether through encouraging reduced water use, improved water governance, pollution reduction, river restoration, or other efforts. | CEO Water Mandate 20133 |
| Contribution | The company’s proportionate responsibility towards the desired condition of a water challenge in a given catchment. | Reference the current document |
| Desired conditions | The strategic goal relating to the reduction or elimination of a water challenge within changing circumstances (i.e., climate change, land use change, infrastructure development, policy development, population growth). | Reference the current document |
| Goal | A description of a desired outcome against which the company and its stakeholders can evaluate progress. | CEO Water Mandate 20144 |
| Impacts | The long-term social, economic, and environmental effects resulting from the implementation of company activities, either directly or indirectly, intended or unintended. The impacts can be positive with benefits to stakeholders, or negative and harmful to stakeholders. Impacts can be short-term or long-term. | Adapted from
ISEAL Code of Good Practice 20101 and IAIA5 |
| Integrated water resource management (IWRM) | A process that promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources in order to maximize economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems and the environment. Sustainable Development Goal 6.5 is focused on the implementation of IWRM by countries.
The four components of an IWRM approach are: · An enabling environment of policies, laws, and plans for sustainable water resource development, and management. · Institutional arrangements through which to put into practice the policies, strategies and legislation. · Management instruments such as data collection and assessments and instruments for water allocation that facilitate better decisions. · Financing for water infrastructure and ongoing costs of water resources management. |
Global Water Partnership 2000 6 |
| Water risk | The possibility of a company experiencing a water-related challenge (i.e., water scarcity, water stress, flooding, infrastructure decay, drought, weak water governance). The extent of risk is a function of the likelihood of a specific challenge occurring and the severity of the challenge’s impact. The severity of impact itself depends on the intensity of the challenge, as well as the vulnerability of the company. | CEO Water Mandate 20144 |
| Water stewardship | The use of water that is socially and culturally equitable, environmentally sustainable, and economically beneficial, achieved through a stakeholder-inclusive process that involves site- and catchment-based actions. | AWS 20197
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| Water challenge | Water-related issues including physical water scarcity, deteriorating water quality, and regulatory restrictions on water allocation. The shared nature of water challenges means that they are of interest or concern to both the site and to other stakeholders in the catchment and lend themselves to being addressed in collaborative ways to the benefit of multiple stakeholders. They are similar to water risks and often referred to as shared water challenges. | AWS 20192
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| Site | The physical area over which the company owns or manages land/facilities and carries out its principal activities. In situations where the organization operates its own water sources and/or wastewater plant, these should also be considered part of the “site.” For example, for a bottled water factory that operates a physically separate water source (i.e., spring or borehole), this should be considered part of the “site.” | AWS 20192
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| Site water target informed by catchment context | An expected result that describes the site’s contributions to the desired catchment condition for a priority water challenge. The established target enables the site to define action(s) required to address the challenge to support the attainment of desired catchment condition. | Reference the current document |
| Stakeholder | Entity or individual that can reasonably be expected to be significantly affected by the given organization’s activities, products, and services, or whose actions can reasonably be expected to affect the ability of the organization to successfully implement its strategies and achieve its objectives.
Note 1: Stakeholders include entities or individuals whose rights under law or international conventions provide them with legitimate claims vis-à-vis the organization. Note 2: Stakeholders can include those who are invested in the organization (such as employees and shareholders), as well as those who have other relationships to the organization (such as other workers who are not employees, suppliers, vulnerable groups, local communities, and NGOs or other civil society organizations, among others). |
GRI 20188 |
| Sustainable Development Goals | Officially known as “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” the 2030 Agenda introduces the Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 Global Goals enveloping 169 targets. Launched by the United Nations through a deliberative process involving its 193 Member States, as well as civil society groups around the world, the goals are contained in paragraph 54 United Nations Resolution A/RES/70/1 of 25 September 2015. | United Nations Sustainable Development Goals9 |
| Threshold
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The point at which a relatively small change or disturbance causes a rapid change in a system. When a threshold has been passed, the system may no longer be able to return to its former state by means of its inherent resilience. For example, when an ecological threshold is crossed it often leads to a rapid change of ecosystem health; a change in habitat cover results in change in species’ richness. | Groffman et. al 200610 and Ecologic Institute and SERI 201011 |
| Water governance | The political, social, economic, and administrative systems that are in place and which — directly or indirectly — affect the use, development, and management of water resources and the delivery of water service at all levels of society. It includes water resources management, protection, allocation, monitoring, quality control, treatment, regulation, policy, and distribution. Good water governance ensures responsible sharing of water resources in the interests of users and the natural environment in line with the principles of water stewardship. | Adapted from |
| Water security | The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socioeconomic development; for ensuring protection against waterborne pollution and water-related disasters; and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. | UN Water 201313 |
- ISEAL Alliance, ISEAL Code of Good Practice, Setting Social and Environmental Standards v5.0, 2010. https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_events/enforceable-codes-conduct-protecting-consumers-across-borders/iseal-code-good-practice.pdf.
- Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), International Water Stewardship Standard v2.0, March 2019. https://a4ws.org/the-aws-standard-2-0/.
- The CEO Water Mandate, Guide to Water-Related Collective Action, September 2013. https://ceowatermandate.org/collectiveaction/
- The CEO Water Mandate, Corporate Water Disclosure Guidelines, September 2014. https://ceowatermandate.org/disclosure/.
- International Association for Impact Assessment. https://www.iaia.org/about.php.
- Global Water Partnership Technical Advisory Committee Background Papers; No. 4, Integrated Water Resources Management, March 2000. https://www.gwp.org/globalassets/global/toolbox/publications/background-papers/04-integrated-water-resources-management-2000-english.pdf.
- Alliance for Water Stewardship. https://a4ws.org/about/.
- GRI, GRI 303: Water and Effluents 2018. https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/gri-303-water-and-effluents-2018/.
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/.
- Peter M. Groffman and others, Ecological Thresholds: The Key to Successful Environmental Management or an Important Concept with No Practical Application?, Ecosystems 2006, 9: 1–13. http://landscape.zoology.wisc.edu/People/Turner/groffman2006ecosys.pdf.
- Ecologic Institute and Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI), Establishing Environmental Sustainability Thresholds and indicators, November 2010. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/enveco/waste/pdf/thresholds_final_report.pdf.
- Water Governance Facility. http://www.watergovernance.org/water-governance/.
- UN Water, Water Security & the Global Water Agenda, A UN-Water Analytical Brief, October 2013. http://www.unwater.org/publications/water-security-global-water-agenda/.