Freshwater

We believe businesses can help us solve the world’s water problems. WWF helps governments, companies, investors, communities, and others understand their water footprints and water-related risks. More importantly, we help our partners go beyond adopting water efficiency practices to becoming better water stewards. As water is the ultimate shared resource, it can only be managed sustainably if all water users in the river basin work together. Water stewardship requires collaboration with all levels of government, local communities, and other industries in a basin—sometimes even competitors—to ultimately change how water is governed and embed the value of nature into business planning. We challenge businesses to think differently about water and to help us accelerate stewardship efforts because it’s good for business, it’s good for people, and it’s good for nature.

WWF also seeks to move water stewardship forward at a global level. We lead and support numerous ground-breaking initiatives, including the Alliance for Water Stewardship's standard, United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)’s work with investors, engagement with business sector sustainability initiatives, scientific assessments of how implementing commodity standards can benefit water quality and quantity, and water footprinting and mapping tools such as the Water Risk Filter. As part of the White House Climate Data Initiative, WWF committed to expanding, maintaining, and sharing our research in partnership with leading technology companies. Such resources will empower industry, financiers, and policymakers to strengthen global water stewardship, food security, and climate resiliency.

WWF seeks to change how water is managed around the world. We encourage states relying on the same river to better coordinate their shared freshwater resources, and we advocate for water security in sustainable development. We also help strengthen the effectiveness of river basin management organizations so they are empowered to protect the natural capital of river basins and ensure climate-smart governance. By partnering with multilateral institutions and global influencers like the Global Environment Facility (GEF), we can bring our holistic management and policy solutions to scale. We also push governments and others to place water higher on global and regional agendas to ensure that freshwater ecosystem integrity is considered in decision-making processes. One way we work towards this is through our Basin Report Card Initiative.

Every river has a source. From its birthplace—usually a snow-covered mountain peak or thick forest—a river will pass through rural communities, densely populated cities, business parks, and farmland before reaching the ocean. WWF embraces a holistic basin-wide approach to address the variety of threats to freshwater. We work on the ground in key rivers basins around the world, supporting responsible water use and infrastructure, and testing and implementing innovative solutions. We bring to bear our climate and hydrological expertise, relationships with private and public sector influencers, academic partners, and an extensive global network to strengthen the resiliency of freshwater systems. Learning from our experience on the ground, we also seek to develop and share tools, techniques, and knowledge globally.

WWF has collaborated with local stakeholders and governments in critical river basins around the world to assess climate change vulnerability and plan interventions. Because institutions are central to the way water resources are managed, WWF has also engaged institutional partners to investigate how to most effectively adapt to climate change. By both working in the field, where many impacts are already being felt, and partnering with institutions, which influence water management decisions, we hope to safeguard a future where both human and environmental needs are met. We are particularly focused on building water security in the face of climate change in Asia's High Mountains and in the Chihuahuan Desert.