The AWS Forum programme takes us to the heart of water stewardship in action, bringing together old friends who have journeyed along the water stewardship way, and also introduces new friends and different pathways."
As AWS prepares for our 2025 Global Water Stewardship Forum, which will be held on 24 and 25 June at the EICC in Edinburgh, we caught up with Faith Lawrence, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Policy Engagement, to discuss what participants can look forward to this year.
Can you give us an overview of what attendees expect to learn and see at this year’s Forum?
The 2025 AWS Global Water Stewardship Forum continues to be the premier space dedicated to advancing water stewardship. This time around, it will be a ‘water stewardship immersion’ that is designed to spark interest, reflection, questions, constructive discussion, and hopefully, inspire. The programme takes us to the heart of water stewardship in action, bringing together old friends who have journeyed along the water stewardship way, and also introduces new friends and different pathways. The mix of old and new enables us to deepen our engagement and inspire new interest and discussions on how to elevate water stewardship within ongoing global and national discussions on water security, climate, sustainability, inclusion, and economic growth – to mention a few.
This year’s forum highlights themes that have kept the water stewardship community busy over the past years, but also introduces exciting, unfolding opportunities. Amongst the many programme highlights, participants should look out for the conversations that will shape where we take water stewardship in the coming years. These include topics ranging from finance for action, water stewardship and tech, biodiversity, national policy collaboration, reuse, and how to advance collective action.
As the global water agenda gains momentum, particularly around COP30 and the 2026 UN Water Conference, the forum presents an opportunity for us to assess how we align water stewardship with broader climate and water resilience efforts. These reflections and insights will form part of the final session on international policy dialogues.
Whether you are interested in collective action, embedding water stewardship in global supply chains, or wanting to be inspired by the exciting developments, the Forum presents an opportunity for us all. Importantly, we will also dive into the all-important discussion on the AWS Standard V3.0: Second Global Public Consultation.
Our members have a wide range of options to choose from, with parallel session options that reflect both the diversity of topics and the depth and quality of ongoing work across our community. There is so much to look forward to, including the Edinburgh WaterLogues, which AWS will host immediately after the AWS Forum on Thursday, 26 June.
What are some of the highlights from this year’s programme? Are there any sessions that you are particularly looking forward to?
The Stocktaking on Water Stewardship session will provide an important opportunity for collective reflection on progress, convergence, and challenges. It also offers an opportunity for a collective conversation on prioritisation, especially in today’s context of global uncertainty. This is compounded by climate variability, differing global perspectives on sustainability, and socio-political turmoil, and is often much closer to home than we would like. I am hoping that our reflections will touch on why (now more than ever!) we need to emphasise convergence, act collectively, and continue to demonstrate through our best practice, the impact and credibility that comes from our collective water stewardship ambitions.
Another thought-provoking session will be one on Finance for Action on Stewardship. In my view, this is a critical conversation and most definitely necessary as we advance towards deepening our collective action efforts in catchments and sites where water stewardship efforts are underway. How do we really, practically get to finance the action? We need to be reflecting on the financing mechanisms necessary to scale water stewardship and invest in processes that will both enable and expedite it.
Two additional sessions I am looking forward to are on Re-use and Water Stewardship and Opportunities and Learnings. The reuse discussion will feature experienced voices from panellists who have observed and contributed to global re-use discussions and who have experience with advocating beyond the fence-line action. This includes connecting water stewardship and reuse to water security, circular economy, and ongoing resilience efforts. Finally, the industrial parks session will incorporate perspectives on these developments as a potential opportunity to scale up water stewardship, highlight lessons learned, and explore how to strategically align efforts to advance collective water stewardship ambitions within strategic industrial areas.
If there is one key message you would like to share with Forum participants, what would it be?
In an increasingly complex and fast-changing world, the distinctive quality and value of our water stewardship community is our unwavering commitment to credible water stewardship and collective action. As we gather to explore, learn and immerse ourselves in all facets of water stewardship, I hope the theme of convergence continues and that we create the space to openly reflect on the exemplary journey of water stewardship up to now. This includes sharing best practice stories, identifying where to improve, and the exchange of ideas for new pathways to consider.
The Forum this year comes at a critical reflection moment and opportunity for us all. So come and be open to our ‘water stewardship immersion’. Join us as we reflect, listen and journey together – with old and new friends. There is space for all of us!
