About World Water Week
The global water conference World Water Week, which saw almost 15,000 participants from over 190 countries and territories, concluded on Thursday 24 August 2023. The theme Seeds of Change: Innovative Solutions for a Water-Wise World invited us to rethink how we manage water at a time of unprecedented challenges.
Four Key Takeaways
The AWS Team hosted, participated in and attended numerous events during World Water Week, both at the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre and at the Epicenter of Water (see below for the full list of activities).
Read their 4 Key Takeaways from the week:
- We are further from water security than we have ever been, and transformative change is needed now. Recent bouts of extreme weather events and rising temperatures around the world highlight the precarious state of our climate. Climate change is exacerbating both water scarcity and water-related risks (such as floods and droughts).
- There are clear expectations that water stewardship can and will contribute more explicitly to water resilience. Water stewardship is for the greater good, but it can help to protect business continuity, helping supply chains and operations to be more resilient. AWS will be working closely with AGWA over the coming year to create greater linkages between the water stewardship and climate communities to foster convergence and collective action.
- There is a clear momentum behind the call for convergence and collective action around water. Igniting collective action in priority places and in credible ways will be one of the water stewardship community’s main priorities over the next few years – with the new and innovative AWS Impact Accelerators seen as a key example of how to make this transformation possible.
- AWS Members, users and partners are calling for a more a more accessible AWS Standard System. For broader adoption and greater impact, participants at World Water Week encouraged us to explore ways to make the AWS Standard System more accessible in a range of different contexts. See ‘next steps’ below for how to get involved in the AWS Standard Review and Revision process.
Alliance for Water Stewardship: Shaping the AWS Standard and System to Accelerate Impact
AWS held a one-hour session where we discussed the AWS Standard review and revision process with our members and stakeholders on 23 August 2023 at the Epicenter of Water. The review process provides an opportunity to not only improve the Standard but to accelerate our impact. In this session, we reflected on progress to date and discussed our ambitions for the future. Our speakers were: Janaína Da Silva, Antea Group | Colin Herron, Global Water Partnership | Sharif Hoque, H&M Group | Laura Weintraub, LimnoTech | Mickaël Clément, Nestlé Waters |Harumichi Seta, Suntory Holdings Ltd. | Alex Money, University of Oxford | Cheryl Hicks, WASH4Work | Rylan Dobson, WWF
Next steps: AWS Standard Review and Revision
- AWS stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the AWS Standard 2.0 via the AWS Standard Review Survey (deadline 31 August).
- Additional public consultations on draft versions of the AWS Standard will be held. The final iteration is adopted formally via the votes of AWS Members. If you are not yet a member, find out more and apply.
- AWS will target the release of AWS Standard Version 3.0 in 2025, with full implementation following a transition period.
More events during World Water Week
An AWS participated in a number of events for World Water Week including:
Sunday, 20 August 2023
14:00 – 15:30 | Aligning and accelerating collective action for water stewardship | Convened by AWS, GIZ, The CEO Water Mandate, The Rivers Trust, WRI, WWF | Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre
Monday, 21 August 2023
09:00 – 10:30 | Mission-driven innovation: Delivering a high-ambition future for water security | Convenved by IWMI, AWS, Arup, GWP, Government of South Africa , The Nature Conservancy, University of Oxford, WYPW | Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre
Tuesday, 22 August 2023
11:00 – 12:30 | Companies and stakeholder engagement | Convened by WWF, General Mills, The Coca-Cola Company, AWS | Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre
11:00 – 12:30 | Paddies for the Planet: Tackling water-climate challenges through low-carbon rice | Convened by World Bank, 2030 Water Resources Group, Bayer AG, Corteva, International Rice Research Institute, Olam | Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre
Wednesday, 23 August 2023
08:45 – 09:45 | WASH Benefits Accounting Framework: WASH4Work | Convened by WASH4Work | Epicenter of Water
10:00 – 11:30 | Aligning and accelerating collective action for water stewardship | Convened by WWF | Epicenter of Water
11:45 – 12:45 | Alliance for Water Stewardship: Shaping the AWS Standard and System to accelerate impact | Convened by AWS in partnership with our members, partners and other stakeholders | Epicenter of Water
Thursday, 24 August 2023
12:45 – 14:15 | Pioneering freshwater science-based targets to advance corporate water stewardship| Convened by SBTN, AWS, CDP, CEO Water Mandate, WRI, The Nature Conservancy, WWF | Epicenter of Water
AWS delegation at World Water Week
If you would like to get in touch with the AWS delegation, please reach out by sending a message via their LinkedIn page below.
For media enquiries, please contact the AWS Communications team using the form below.