Organisation

We are a global partnership dedicated to promoting the responsible use of freshwater. We do this through an internationally-consistent water stewardship system that drives, recognizes and rewards improved water stewardship performance.

At the heart of our work is the INTERNATIONAL WATER STEWARDSHIP STANDARD (the AWS Standard) which provides a voluntary framework for major water users to understand their water use and impacts, and to work collaboratively and transparently for sustainable water management within a catchment context.

The AWS Standard was developed through a four-year, global multi-stakeholder process. Our network of regional partners allows global consistency to team up with local expertise. Our innovative approach makes water stewardship accessible to stakeholders from industry, agriculture, public sector and civil society, and puts us at the leading edge collective responses to water challenges.

Over the last decade it has become increasingly clear that water is one of the major challenges for society, the economy and the environment. Exacerbated by global drivers of population growth, changing consumption patterns and climate change, our freshwater resources are increasingly under stress.

Recent years has also seen increasing acknowledgement of the critical role of the private sector in addressing sustainability issues. As the major user and consumer of freshwater resources, the private sector needs to be constructively engaged in efforts to achieve water sustainability.

AWS was born out of the realization that the scale of water challenges facing the world demands an approach that is both systematic and scalable. Drawing on lessons from other sustainability standards like the Forest Stewardship Council, the focus from the beginning has promoting  water stewardship through a globally-consistent set of principles and criteria.