alexis morgan, alliance for water stewardship - water & risk
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Alexis Morgan, Global Water Roundtable CoordinatorAlliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) / WWF-US
2nd Canadian Water Forum, TorontoJune 14, 2011
Building a credible water risk response: AWS’s Global Water Stewardship Program
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Water Risks & Response
• Physical Water Risk– Water quantity (scarcity / flooding)
and quality (pollution)
• Regulatory Water Risk– Imposition of restrictions on water
use by government (pricing, licensing, rights, standards, etc.)
• Reputational Water Risk– Company’s actions and its
brand/image and the risk it faces from customer support/rejection
Risk Response (+ Opportunity)
Risk Assessment
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The Water Risk Landscape
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Water Stewardship: How AWS fits in
1) Awareness of Water Issues
3) Measure Basin Status and Impacts
4) Determine Cumulative Corporate Water Risks
Water Stewardship
5) Water Stewardship Response
6) Verification of Claims (including risk mitigation) to Stakeholders
2) Measure & Report Water Use
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Responding to Water Risk
Why respond to risk?• Investors• Government• Customers• Employees• Communities• NGOs
How to respond to risk?Reporting? CDP? GRI?Compliance? Lobby?Transparency? PR? Labels?Action? Education?Philanthropy? Verification?Engagement? Certification?
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Water awareness
Knowledge of impact
Stakeholder engagement
Influence governance
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Internal action
Education, understanding, anecdotal commenting, philanthropy
“Fenceline” protection, management, restoration, technological solutions
How far do you need to go to appease your shareholders/stakeholders?
Measurement, Analysis, Reporting / Disclosure
“Beyond the fenceline” protection, management, restoration, collaborative optimization
Lobbying for regulatory improvements (raising the bar)
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HSBC on Soy and Palm Oil: ‘…we will not provide facilities and other forms of financial assistance in respect of commercial logging operations in: Primary Tropical Moist Forest, High Conservation Value Forest, Projects located in and which significantly degrade or convert Critical Natural Habitats’.
Good or bad investment?
Nearly half of respondents of the ISEAL survey from the financial sector further specified that standards are used to screen investments.
Compliance with credible voluntary standards will be the investment hurdle for natural resources investments – with potential wider uptake by Equator Banks
Stakeholder engagement
Internal action
Knowledge of impact
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What is the AWS doing?Establishing a credible risk response mechanism
GOVERNANCESYSTEM
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD
(PRINCIPLES & CRITERIA)
VERIFICATION PROCESS
BRAND VALUE
GLOBAL WATER STEWARDSHIP
PROGRAM
Recognize and reward water users who take major steps to minimize the watershed impacts of their water use
Knowledge of impact
Stakeholder engagement
Influence governance
Internal action
Who makes up the Alliance for Water Stewardship?
Water Stewardship Standard?Initial thinking
• Recognizes and rewards water users who take major steps to minimize the impacts of their water use (direct & indirect)
• Applied at the facility and watershed level in a tiered performance approach
• Developed via a multi-stakeholder process (“Water Roundtable”) ©
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Water Stewardship Standard? Initial thinking
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• Targeted Standard users: Agriculture, Industry, Water Service Providers
• Builds upon other methods (e.g., water footprinting) and efforts (e.g., CEO WM, CDP), and endeavours for linkages with other standards (e.g., FSC)
• Complements regulatory approach by strengthening institutional capacity
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Improved water flow regime
Equitable governance & social benefits
Improved water quality
Protected high conservation value areas
Watershed-level targets
Focus for an International Water Stewardship Standard
Energy, Carbon, Food,
Other?
Economic benefits:Efficiency gains, risk reduction +
Environmental benefits:Water, habitat , species,+
Social benefits:Access, governance, sanitation, health +
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Timeline
June 2010Initial Water
Roundtable Meeting
July 2011Initial meeting of standard’s
decision-making body
November 2011
First Draft of Standard
August 2012
Second Draft of
Standard
July 2013Final
Draft of Standar
d
Feedback:Online
MeetingsPiloting
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Conclusion
• The Alliance for Water Stewardship is building a program (focused around a standard + existing efforts) to credibly reduce water risk
• Provides a one-stop risk response mechanism • The standard will result in environmental,
social and economic benefits at the facility and watershed levels
• There are numerous ways to get involved and we encourage you to do so!
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Alexis [email protected]
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www.allianceforwaterstewardship.org
AWS Regional Engagement: Local to Global
Events (e.g., presentations, seminars, etc.)Stakeholder feedback meetings (Fall 2011 +)IWSS Pilots (Fall 2011 +)ISDC meetings (July +)
DOTS ARE EXEMPLARY ONLY
+ Online individual feedback
Online Comments database
Stakeholder Engagement
Regional Meetings
Regional Pilots
Individual / Public
Review
Mechanism for stakeholder engagement
Mechanism for stakeholder feedback to Secretariat
Official Submission from Meetings
(any format)
Official submission from Pilot
(specific format)
Online / written feedback
Mechanism for accounting for
stakeholder feedback
Water Roundtable Comment Database
Comments grouped into
categories
Grouped comments responded to by ISDC
Responses posted online Modifications
to IWSS
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Pilots: What is involved?
1. Context: Understand the basin, policies, and key challenges (including water supply and demand)
2. Standard: Review/understand the standards being reviewed
3. Case study sites: evaluate water use, explore the costs, benefits, and outcomes of implementing the standard
4. Basin governance: explore mechanisms for improved basin stewardship (incl. habitat)
5. Report: Recommend improvements to the Standard via official feedback to AWS