Recently, theUniversity of Twente,UNEP and Good Stuff International collaborated in order to apply theWater Footprint Assessment (WFA) for the first time to the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) subcontinent. A comprehensive accounting on water footprints per sector was produced, as well as a water footprint sustainability analysis.

Good Stuff International (GSI) recently developed the WaterData4Action service. To showcase WaterData4Action, we applied it to understand the social, environmental and economic effects of nitrogen use on water as a foundation to develop positive action to curb negative effects and bank on opportunities. 

For agricultural supply chain partners, it is very complex to define concretely what needs to be done to increase sustainable water use through the supply chain. The main reason for this is that supply chains source from producers in many different locations with just as many different water situations. The result is that there can never be a one size fits all solution that will generate sustainable water use in all locations.

Over the years, through our work with farmers and their supply chain partners, we have learned together how water use sustainability in agricultural supply chains may take shape. The result of this learning is the waterdata4action approach (WD4A). This technical paper lays out the WD4A sustainable water use approach in agricultural supply chains to enable practitioners to take note, learn, apply it and contribute to its further development.

 Download GSI Technical paper 2: Sustainable water use in agricultural supply chains - The WaterData4Action Approach

In order to manage water for economy, people, and ecosystems, the catchment water balance provides fundamental quantitative information to describe the water situation in catchments.
The catchment water balance provides information on opportunities for water use improvements, supports the assessment of water risks, and facilitates site level water reporting. Furthermore, it is a key element in water stewardship implementation. Beyond that, it provides the foundation for water targets development.

Download GSI Technical Paper 1: The Water Balance as a fundamental methodology to inform sustainable water management

By Alex Fernandez Poulussen& Erika Zarate

[English translation of the article that appeared in the iagua magazine, April 2015, http://issuu.com/iagua/docs/iagua_magazine_6/36?e=9940341/12439965]

While the concept of Water Footprint was introduced by Prof. Arjen Hoekstra[1] about 12 years ago, Good Stuff International has been supporting the application of the water footprint in different countries and contexts for over seven years now[2]. We have taken the concept from theory to practice, moving the water footprint from an academic context to the environmental, social and economic realities in different parts of the world.

The State of Nature in the EU report says that especially the European freshwater environment and its species are in a worrying state. The trend is that the pressures on freshwater will increase resulting in negative effects on society and economy. Ultimately these effects will need to be managed leading to higher costs. It is clear to experts that good water management is the best investment to counter this situation. But this is not so clear to most European citizens, civil servants, business people and politicians.

Water risk is the possibility of an entity experiencing a water-related threat, either directly or indirectly. In agricultural supply chains, water risks are mostly related to the sites where the primary products are produced. As a result, it is in the interest of all parts of the supply chain – from retailer to trader to producer- to decrease the water risks associated with production sites.

Companies with global agricultural supply chains experience fundamental challenges in managing water risks. Supply chains are inherently complex as products are sourced from many locations, and each have their own reality in terms of water. To help addressing these challenges, a systematic and practical methodology is proposed to support global companies in effectively understanding and acting on water risks in their agricultural supply chains. The methodology combines a top down global approach to prioritize catchments with a bottom up local approach to validate risk score results obtained for the prioritized catchments and move towards action.

 Download GSI Technical paper 3: Water Risks in Agricultural supply chains - Methodology for catchment prioritization to guide company action