Water issues were front and center at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20) held in Rio de Janeiro in June.
U.S. public and private sector organizations announced they are dedicating more than half a billion dollars to address key water challenges around the world through the U.S. Water Partnership. The 41 members of the partnership include government agencies, academic organizations, water coalitions, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. They are pooling resources and mobilizing American expertise, knowledge and ingenuity to address water challenges around the world. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said: “The cross-sector partnerships that emerge will allow us to rapidly scale up innovative solutions so they can be deployed in places all over the globe.”
Jackson also joined Brazilian Minister for the Environment Izabella Teixeira to announce a new online tool that highlights key links between policies, funding and on-the-ground projects that can help drive urban sustainability investment, part of the US-Brazil Joint Initiative on Urban Sustainability (JIUS). “This interactive web platform is designed to serve as an entry point for everyone from local officials to investors who are looking for the best strategies for investment in urban sustainability,” Jackson said. “Right now the platform represents an array of different approaches, not a comprehensive or one-size-fits-all plan. We believe that this collection of policy instruments, financial mechanisms, and project examples can serve as a model for sustainable development in cities around the world.”
At a meeting of the Corporate Sustainability Forum in conjunction with Rio + 20, 45 chief executive officers representing global companies that are major water users released a communiqué calling on world governments to improve regulations for global water sustainability and safety, develop and implement more comprehensive and long-term water planning, create incentives to encourage good water practices, support infrastructure for water services and sanction malpractice, like water pollution. The statement also encouraged governments to partner with the business community to achieve these ends. Signers included Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., Molson Coors Brewing Co., Dow Chemical Co., GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé, Levi Strauss & Co. and Merck.
More on theSE RIO initiatives can be found at http://uswaterpartnership.org,http://www.epa.gov/jius and http://www.unglobalcompact.org/news/240-06-18-2012.