WWF & Coca-Cola’s Work to Conserve Fresh Water
We all depend on water for survival
WWF's mission is the conservation of nature and the protection of natural resources for people and wildlife –freshwater species and habitats are among the world's most endangered.
For The Coca-Cola Company, water is a strategic priority –it’s the main ingredient in every product the company makes. It is also used to produce the ingredients the company buys, like sugar, citrus and coffee. The ability to manage natural resources contributes to the sustainability of a business while protecting the habitats that wildlife, plants and people depend on for survival.
Water Efficiency
Water is not only a central ingredient in Coca-Cola’s beverages, but also a fundamental element in the manufacturing process of the company’s products.
Goal: Improve water efficiency 20% by 2012.
Results: Despite an expanding product portfolio and increased production levels, Coca-Cola improved water efficiency by 20 percent by the end of 2011. Significantly, these results apply not only to The Coca-Cola Company, but also to nearly 300 independently owned and operated bottling companies known as the Coca-Cola system.
To support this goal, we jointly developed a Water Efficiency Toolkit to help improve water efficiency within bottling plants. By 2020, improvements in water efficiency will save approximately 50 million liters of water use annually—the equivalent of 20,000 Olympic size swimming pools.
River Basin Conservation
Many of the partnership’s key successes can be seen in conservation initiatives taking place in seven of the world’s most important river basins including:
the Yangtzethe Mekongthe Danubethe Rio Grande/Rio BravoLake Niassathe Mesoamerican reef catchmentsthe Southeastern United States rivers and streams
Goal: Help conserve seven key freshwater basins and build upon the conservation gains in three of those basins to magnify impact and scale.
Results: In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, grasslands have tripled and bird numbers increased five-fold since 2001. As a testament to our work, Tram Chim National Park was designated as a world Ramsar site (Wetland of International Importance) in 2012.
Partnership conservation efforts in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo have led to the protection of the Julimes pupfish and conservation of its habitat at El Pandeño Spring, located in Julimes, Mexico. The pupfish is known as the “hottest fish in the world” due to its adaptation to inhabit hot springs of up to 114 degrees Fahrenheit.
In the Mesoamerican Reef catchments of Guatemala and Honduras, we have worked with communities to produce crops like coffee, cardamom, honey and okra using more sustainable agriculture practices that have helped to prevent erosion while also increasing incomes for families.
Because The Coca-Cola Company depends on freshwater supplies, understanding watersheds and how they work is extremely important to its business. As a conservation organization, watersheds are vital to WWF's work, as more than half of the world's wetlands have been lost in the last century alone. Healthy watersheds are essential to life, health, economic growth and prosperity.
