Such resources will empower industry, financiers and policymakers to strengthen global water stewardship, food security and climate resiliency. As part of the White House Climate Data Initiative, WWF committed to expanding, maintaining and sharing that data in partnership with leading technology companies.
The data behind the Water Risk Filter and similar WWF projects has already been used by more than 2000 companies to map over 50,000 vendor sites in their supply chains. We support and lead numerous ground-breaking initiatives including the Alliance for Water Stewardship's standard, United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)’s work with investors, and water footprinting and mapping tools such as the Water Risk Filter. WWF looks across sectors to partner with organizations like Coca-Cola Company, United Nations’ CEO Water Mandate and the World Economic Forum in our shared pursuit of a water secure future. Protecting our freshwater resources cannot be accomplished alone. Beyond awareness, understanding and internal action, WWF urges companies to look outside their own operations, supporting local watershed conservation and engaging in collective efforts to advocate, support and promote better basin governance, for the benefit of people and nature. It is a journey that begins with contributing to the responsible, sustainable management of freshwater resources critical to business operations. Stewardship goes beyond being an efficient water user. WWF's work on water stewardship helps governments, companies, investors and others understand their water footprints and become better water stewards. Yet many businesses are just beginning to understand what fresh water means to them, their profits, and their company’s long-term viability. Issues of water scarcity and poor water quality have significant and growing social, environmental and economic consequences. Nearly every business sector is water-dependent in some way or another. Despite their importance to life as a drinking water source, sustaining crops through irrigation, providing food in the form of fish, powering homes through dams and moving goods by barges –freshwater habitats are disappearing at an alarming rate. These freshwater habitats are less than 1% of the world’s total surface area yet house 10% of all known animals and up to 40% of all known fish species. Fresh water is found in glaciers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, rivers, streams, wetlands and even groundwater. Salt water is 97% of all water and is found mostly in our oceans and seas. Water can be broadly separated into salt water and fresh water. Eventually, these waters flow to the sea, starting the cycle over again. These headwaters flow into streams, which in turn flow into rivers or lakes. Rain and snow that falls on the land either seeps into low places – feeding aquifers and groundwater tables –or flows down hill, forming headwaters. As these clouds float over cooler seas or land, some of the moisture falls as rain or snow.
As lakes, oceans, rivers and streams increase in temperature, some water will change from liquid to gas, collecting together into clouds of moisture. It is unique because it can be naturally found as a solid, liquid or gas. With this in mind, WWF partners with communities, businesses and others to decrease pollution, increase water efficiency and protect natural areas to ensure enough clean water exists to conserve wildlife and provide a healthy future for all. Although critical to natural and human communities, fresh water is threatened by a myriad of forces including overdevelopment, polluted runoff and global warming. Of all the water on Earth, just 3% is fresh water. Fresh water is vital to life and yet it is a finite resource.
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