WWF: Agricultural standards can do more to mitigate water risk in commodity for production
Standards designed to improve sustainability of production of agricultural
commodities could do more to help address root causes of water-related risk,
according to a new WWF report published in May 2015.
The assessment,
Strengthening Water Stewardship in Agricultural Standards, finds that many
credible sustainability standards have robust water quality and efficiency
requirements. Strengthening efforts on water governance and resiliency measures
for extreme weather would help to better mitigate water risks.
Research
on 24 standards showed a large range of water risk exposure by crop type, with
rice facing the greatest and cocoa the lowest water risks.
Despite
water being ranked as the issue with the greatest potential for economic impact
by the World Economic Forum (2015), few agricultural standards are including
requirements for growers to mitigate their water risks coming from the
catchment.
“Water is a shared resource, and you really can’t solve water
challenges from your own backyard,” says Alexis Morgan, Water Stewardship
Specialist at WWF International. “Standards are important tools for improving
production of everyday items like coffee, sugar and cotton. This report
highlights the significant opportunities for standard-setting bodies to harness
emerging tools to ensure that healthy freshwater ecosystems can continue to
support food, water and energy security in the future."
Contact information | n/a |
---|---|
News type | Inbrief |
File link |
http://www.eip-water.eu/wwf-agricultural-standards-can-do-more-mitigate-water-risk-commodity-production |
Source of information | EIP |
Subject(s) | AGRICULTURE , ANALYSIS AND TESTS , HYDRAULICS - HYDROLOGY , METHTODOLOGY - STATISTICS - DECISION AID , RIGHT , RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY |
Relation | http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?247219/Agricultural-standards-can-do-more-to-mitigate-risk-in-commodity-production |
Geographical coverage | n/a |
News date | 09/06/2015 |
Working language(s) | ENGLISH |