Global Water Sustainability Forum (GWSF)

Since 1993 I have been active on water because water has been increasingly recognized as a key factor in sustainable development. Also, there is a general expectation that business (as a whole, not just the water sector) should play a wider role in addressing water-related environmental, social and economic development challenges.

GWSF seeks to:

Clarify and enhance grassroots organization and business understanding of key water issues and drivers;
Promote mutual understanding between, grassroots organizations, the business community and non-business stakeholders on water management issues; and
Provide tools and models to support effective grassroots organization/ business action.
Our activities of the Forum are to develop a GWSF Water Tool for grassroots organization to link with other stakeholders. The tool will be launched during World Water Day, March 2008 in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Water Facts and Trends

The Global Water Sustainability Forum (GWSF) aims to enhance awareness in grassroots business community of critical water issues while actively promoting mutual understanding between business and non-business stakeholders. Engaging grassroots organizations and leading companies representing a broad spectrum of activity, the current program is focused on the role of business in sustainable water management and on strengthening the foundation for effective business action.

The forum will examine the influence of water-related issues on social, economic and environmental development and explore the roles business and other stakeholders can play in shaping appropriate actions and outcomes within the grassroots.

GWSF would provide an overview of some basic facts and societal challenges related to water. It would be developed by GWSF in partnership with Cambridge Water (CAMWATER) Project and is intended to support the ongoing dialogue within the GWSF membership and with other stakeholders in civil society and government. The emphasis in this initial document would on water sustainability and people’s use of water for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes. The scenario planning process will provide opportunities to supplement this work with consideration of other key issues.

We are seeking existing data from many United Nation organizations, documents prepared for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th World Water Forums, the OECD, the World Resources Institute and other research organizations. We hope present it here in a simplified and condensed format to promote understanding of the world water situation and to stimulate forward thinking on grassroots organizations as part of the solution to issues in water and sanitation.

GWSF Water Tool
The Global Water Sustainability Forum (GWSF) Water Tool will be developed to:

Provide an automatic link between grassroots organization and key external, water-related data from other stakeholders..
Enable the creation of GRI Indicators, inventories, risk and performance metrics and geographic mapping at grassroots level.
Allow grassroots organizations to establish relative water risks in their portfolios to prioritize action.
Establish a standard approach and common set of data for global assessments at grassroots level.
Enable analysis of customer markets grassroots level.