The first global AWS forum was a great opportunity to evaluate the progress of the system and the AWS International Water Stewardship Standard and identify opportunities and challenges in the future. GSI is currently contributing its experience and knowledge for the implementation and promotion of the standard in Europe and Spain and also participated actively.

We collaborated with Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation for estimating blue water productivities for three cotton farms in Tajikistan using the Geographic Agricultural Water Footprint Calculator GAWFC. We did this for two soil water retention capacity scenarios. We found out that the crop suffers water stress especially during the months of July and August, which are the hottest months. However, crop water stress is alleviated for the bigger soil water retention capacity, indicating that efforts to increase the water retention capacity of the soil are very relevant for these farms, ultimately helping to increase yields.