Nature Hub

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is working to mainstream the investment of nature-based solutions (NbS) within the water sector as a means to restore watershed health while delivering biodiversity, climate and water security benefits. To date, TNC has helped water users invest over $500 million in watershed conservation—but much more is needed.

Explore the many ways TNC is working to advance watershed conservation on the ground and equipping partners to drive change at scale:

• Resilient Watersheds
• Nature for Water
• Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund
• Greater Cape Town Water Fund

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its more than 1,500 Member organisations and the input of more than 18,000 experts. IUCN is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.

• Visit IUCN's website
• Follow IUCN on Twitter

Ensuring that all communities live in a water-secure world is foundational to humanitarian and development programs at Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Our strategic vision for 2030 centers on water security as a human right, inalienably tied to our health, dignity and socio-economic development.

Through 2030, CRS will strive to achieve its vision by empowering water stewardship in three principal areas:

1. Water and climate-smart agriculture.
2. Innovative, scalable, adaptable, resource-neutral and gender-responsive water, sanitation and hygiene, or WASH, services.
3. Improved, more equitable and inclusive governance that increases financial investments in water, sanitation and hygiene.

Catholic Relief Services Resources:

• CRS Water Security Program Overview
• CRS Water Security Strategy for 2030 (PDF)
• The Azure Initiative
• Western Area Peninsula Water Fund Business Case Report (PDF)
• Blue Harvest Water Benefits Calculator
• CRS Source Water Protection Toolbox

The International Office for Water (OiEau) is a non-profit association declared under French law to be in the public interest by the Decree of 13 September 1991. OiEau’s core-activities deal with the development of skills for better water management in France, Europe and around the world.

OiEau covers small and large water cycles. It puts its technical, operational, institutional, legal and strategic expertise at the service of all water stakeholders. It works at all levels, from local authorities up to national and transboundary policies.

For more than 10 years, the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska has worked toward one goal: a water and food secure world. And it is more urgent than ever that we secure more nutritious food with less stress on our scarce water resources. By 2050, there will be nearly 10 billion people to feed and a mounting demand for a wider range of foods. Increasing populations and urbanization will require more water for human and environmental uses.

There will also be the devastating effects of climate change — turning cropland into deserts, intensifying crop water demands and causing wide fluctuations in water supplies. We must expand and accelerate our efforts to develop and deploy solutions; strengthen water and food systems; and reverse the wide-spread trend of water quality degradation.

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute Resources:

• DWFI Website
• Research and Policy
• Education
• Communication
• Development

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a research-for-development organization with offices in 13 countries and a global network of scientists operating in more than 30 countries around the world. Guided by its 2019-2023 Strategy, IWMI works to meet demand for scientifically tested water management solutions that can be deployed quickly and at scale to facilitate sustainable development.

For more than 35 years, IWMI has worked with a wide variety of partners in both the Global North and Global South. Utilizing evidence and knowledge drawn from our science, innovative technologies, and testing of business models, we collaborate with governments, farmers, water managers, development partners, and businesses to lay the foundation for a more water-secure future for all.

Today, as part of the new Water Systems unit at One CGIAR, IWMI continues to combine research with data to build and enhance knowledge, develop information services and products, strengthen capacity, convene dialogue, and deliver actionable policy analysis to strengthen our food systems, build climate resilience, promote social inclusion, and more.

International Water Management Institute Resources:

• IWMI Website
• IWMI Water, Growth and Inclusion (PDF)
• IWMI Water, Climate Change and Resilience (PDF)
• Water systems science in One CGIAR
• The CGIAR Portfolio: Transforming Food, Land, and Water Systems in a Climate Crisis

Athi Water Works Development Agency (AWWDA) is one of the nine Water Works Development Agencies (WWDA) in Kenya. The Agency is responsible for the development, maintenance and management of water and sewerage infrastructure in the counties of Nairobi, Kiambu and Muranga Counties, covering 5,800.4Km2 with a total population of 8,012,390 people. Currently, the Agency has a bulk water production capacity of 664,337m3/day and a wastewater treatment capacity of 210,500 m3/day.

The Water Sector Trust Fund (WaterFund) is a Kenyan State Corporation under the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation mandate to provide conditional and unconditional grants to the Counties and to assist in financing the development of and management of water services in the marginalized and underserved areas. Water Sector Trust Fund was established under Water Act 2016, succeeding the Water Services Trust Fund, which was established under the Water Act, 2002.

To address the growing issue of water insecurity worldwide, Conservation International (CI) developed an innovative, science-based tool for gauging the health of freshwater ecosystems: The Freshwater Health Index (FHI). The FHI offers a framework for water managers and decision-makers to analyze the health of their basins, understand the trade-offs and consequences of their actions, and discuss approaches to creating healthy, sustainable watersheds into the future.

CI has applied and continues applying the FHI in water basins across Asia, Latin America, and Africa, strengthening the water supplies of more than 138 million people.

Conservation International Resources:

• Visit us online to learn about the Freshwater Health Index and how to start assessing the health of your basin.
• An Open Source Toolbox for Integrating Freshwater Social-Ecological Indicators in Basin Management
• Video: The Freshwater Health Index
• Video Testimonials:
  • Guandu, Brazil
  • Alto Mayo, Peru
  • Dongjiang, China

Wetlands International is a global non-profit organization headquartered in the Netherlands. With 20 country and project offices around the world, the organization works in more than 100 countries to sustain and restore wetlands and their resources for people and diversity. Wetlands International's work ranges from research and community-based field projects to advocacy and engagement with governments, corporate and international policy fora and conventions. It works through partnerships and is supported by contributions from an extensive specialist network and thousands of volunteers.

Wetlands International, CARE Netherlands, IWMI and International Alert are the core partners behind Blue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel (BLiSS), a long-term, transformative initiative aiming to restore and safeguard Sahelian wetlands, thereby improving the safety and strengthening the resilience of rural communities. BLiSS will be mobilizing a multitude of actors and building a wider alliance in the region of government agencies, private sector and civil society organizations to catalyze change.

Wetlands International Resources:

• Announcing the Blue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel (BLiSS) initiative
• BLiSS Strategy
• Video: Transforming the Sahel’s Blue Lifelines for Peaceful and Resilient Communities

Sabesp is a mixed capital company that was founded in 1973 and is currently responsible for supplying water and collecting and treating sewage in the 375 municipalities of São Paulo state. It is considered one of the world’s largest sanitation companies in terms of population served. It supplies 28.6 million people with water and provides sewage collection services to 24.9 million people.

Sabesp is responsible for around 30% of the investments in basic sanitation in Brazil. Between 2021 and 2025, it plans to invest approximately R$ 21.0 billion, focused on expanding water availability and security, without jeopardizing the improvements to sewage collection and treatment ratios.

• Learn more about Sabesp

The World Water Council is an international multi-party organization, created in 1996 and headquartered in Marseille. The mission of the World Water Council is to bring together the international community to convince decision-makers that water is a vital political priority for the sustainable and equitable development of the planet.

• Visit the World Water Council website