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.

On 11 June 2018, the Iberesparragal farm in Southern Spain received the gold certificate of the Alliance for Stewardship for the implementation of the Water Stewardship standard. Good Stuff International guided and supported the entire AWS standard implementation in the farm as part of a project carried out for the Alliance for Water Stewardship.

Photo: Reservoir in Andalusia, Spain

As it was the first (gold) certificate that AWS issued for an agricultural producer in Europe, the implementation has attracted a lot of interest from people that want to implement the AWS standard in an agricultural context. Many people have asked us questions about the practical approach that we took, the solutions that we generated and the lessons we learned.

En junio de 2018, la finca de cítricos Iberesparragal, en España, logró la primera certificación nivel oro según el estándar AWS en Europa y una de las primeras en el sector agrícola en todo el mundo. Como componente del proyecto de GSI con la  Alliance for Water Stewardship, apoyamos todo el proceso de implementación en Iberesparragal mediante la aplicación del enfoque WaterData4Action. El resultado es un estudio de caso práctico del cual se pueden extraer diferentes logros y aprendizajes.

En junio de 2018, la finca Iberesparragal, en el sur de España, recibió la certificación nivel Oro de la Alliance for Stewardship por la implementación del estándar AWS. Good Stuff International guió y apoyó el proceso completo de implementación como parte de la cvolaboración con la Alliance for Water Stewardship.

Photo: Reservoir in Andalusia, Spain

Como primer certificado (de oro) emitido por AWS para un productor agrícola en Europa, esta implementación ha atraído mucho interés desde empresas que desean implementar el estándar de AWS en un contexto agrícola. Muchas personas nos han preguntado sobre el enfoque práctico que tomamos, las soluciones que generamos y las lecciones que aprendimos..

This technical paper describes the practical insights gathered from the application of a methodology that seeks to use the current context of a basin as the basis for setting more actionable and realistic water targets.This methodology is illustrated using a Colombian banana farmer which is part of the supply chain of the German supermarket chain Edeka. While the start of this work pre-dates some of the emerging global conversations with respect to Context-/Science-Based Targets for Water – there are some lessons that could be beneficial contributions to the methodology development of Context-/Science-Based Targets for Water.

Download technical document: GSI Technical paper 4: Setting water targets based on catchment context

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

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.

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

In June 2018, the citrus farm Iberesparragal, in Spain, achieved the first gold certification under the AWS standard in Europe and one of the first ones in the agricultural sector worldwide.

As a component of GSI's project with the Alliance for Water Stewardship, we supported the whole implementation process at Iberesparragal by applying the WaterData4Action approach. The result is a practical case study from which different achievements and learnings can be extracted.