Alliance for Water Stewardship Priority Sectors

Textiles & apparel

Water pollution may be the issue most commonly associated with the textiles and apparel sector, but there are a whole host of other challenges related to water. Water stewardship enables businesses to protect themselves against these challenges and to work collaboratively to overcome them in shared sourcing locations around the world.

Sector water challenges

Water-related challenges for the textiles and apparel sector range from water scarcity that can impact raw material production, to a lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in communities that can leave people unable to work.

By working together to strengthen water governance, preserve important water-related areas and ensure that communities have safe access to WASH throughout their supply chains, companies can secure their social license to operate and protect business continuity into the future.

The textiles and apparel sector already has a significant number of sustainability standards and initiatives. With this in mind, AWS works with peer organisations to understand what is already in place and to identify opportunities for enhancing existing water stewardship activities.

The textiles and apparel sector uses approximately 93 billion cubic metres of water every year — enough to meet the drinking water needs of five million people.

(UN Trade & Development, 2019)

AWS Collective Action Accelerator

AWS is working to accelerate the uptake of water stewardship in important production hubs for the textiles and apparel sector. Find out more about how your organisation can participate in an AWS Collective Action Accelerator by clicking the button below.

Community of Practice

Through the Community of Practice (CoP) on Textiles & Apparel, AWS facilitates conversations between brands, suppliers and other stakeholders to create a pathway from water management to water stewardship.

Central to this approach is building capacity to implement water stewardship and engaging with multiple stakeholders in key sourcing locations to ensure that everyone, not just the private sector, is equipped with the skills they need to respond to shared water challenges.

Join our next meeting

CoPs are open to all stakeholders to foster a broad and inclusive dialogue. If you are interested in attending our next meeting, please contact us using the button below.

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