Water Futures Mobilizing Multi Stakeholder Action for Resilience 2025

Where to start Multi-stakeholder collaboration Build international consistency in collecting, sharing and using economic, environmental and social data through globally recognized methods to value and cost water cycles accurately. To value the full cost of water appropriately requires data on different aspects of water: –Economic (e.g. real-time pricing, extraction, treatment, distribution, provisioning costs). –Environmental (e.g. ecosystem services valuation, biodiversity impacts). –Social (e.g. accessibility, equity, public health). –Given the interconnectedness of water use, data-gathering efforts require coordination among stakeholders. Articulate a globally relevant framework, with clear links to nature and climate agendas as well as economics. Water is often perceived as abundant and inexpensive. The international community must build globally recognized frameworks to articulate the economic and societal value of water and help explain their relevance to nature and climate agendas. Initiatives such as the Valuing Water Initiative62 and Ceres63 are already building the tools to support these efforts. Mobilize multiple stakeholders, including international organizations, regulators, water suppliers and communities, among others, to pilot and scale-up the use of tools and methods. Mainstreaming of approaches can be accelerated by building consistency across multi-stakeholder platforms that guide water pricing at different levels. Good principles for pricing water can be developed at a global level, but their application to local settings needs to be context-specific. Pricing must therefore integrate critical stakeholders such as farmer organizations and irrigation districts, industry and manufacturers, as well as water utilities and local governments. Private sector lead Quantify the value of water and risk at the corporate level and across the supply chain. Doing this can help build the business case for action versus inaction. It can reinforce the case for increasing water resilience and encourage the deployment of measures to enhance the prevention of and response to water-related shocks and stresses across supply chains (e.g. droughts and floods), which have been identified by corporations as key drivers of negative water- related business impacts.64 Accelerate data collection to establish the true cost of water for a company. This should account for future trends around water supply and demand. Companies can take steps to collect water internally and along their value chains to understand how valuable water is to their business. Existing tools, such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) guide65 outlining water valuation techniques for business applications,66 and Veolia’s “True Cost of Water” tool which monetizes “blue risks”, provide a step in this direction.67 Set internal water pricing to inform decision- making. Companies can quantify the monetary value of water to business, reflecting factors such as the benefits of improving water quality, efficiency and securing water supplies68 and the risks of inaction. Pricing of water must integrate critical stakeholders such as farmer organizations and irrigation districts, industry and manufacturers, as well as water utilities and local governments. 18 Water Futures: Mobilizing Multi-Stakeholder Action for Resilience