The Goal Is Clear A Transformative Partnership to Conserve Water

Transcription

1 The Goal Is Clear A Transformative Partnership to Conserve Water

2 Saving Our Water: The Power of Partnership To protect the world s natural resources, we need to take collective action. When it comes to big issues such as safeguarding our global water supply, no individual sector whether government, NGO, or business can make as big a difference alone as we can by working together. Recognizing this, WWF and The Coca-Cola Company have embarked on a transformative partnership to conserve freshwater resources around the world.

3 Why focus on water? Water is critical to sustaining nature, communities and businesses. Yet, today our water resources are in serious danger: More than 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Degradation of freshwater habitats threatens thousands of animals that could be lost forever. Climate change is predicted to exacerbate the world s water challenges, leading to droughts, rising sea levels and floods. We need to take immediate action to protect this precious, life-sustaining resource.

4 Leading the way for water conservation Addressing global water challenges is of critical importance to both WWF and The Coca-Cola Company. As a leading global environmental organization, WWF s mission is the conservation of nature and the protection of natural resources for people and wildlife across the globe. As the largest non-alcoholic beverage producer in the world, The Coca-Cola Company, along with its bottling partners, uses water as the main ingredient in every product it makes. Combining our expertise, skills and influence, we will set and meet wide-reaching goals to help save the Earth s freshwater.

5 Five goals to address global water challenges Conserve some of the most important freshwater basins WWF and The Coca-Cola Company are working together to Poorly planned development, deforestation, agricultural expansion, overfishing and climate Conserve some of the world s most important freshwater basins Improve water efficiency within the company s operations However, if we can manage our water resources Reduce the company s carbon emissions personal, agricultural and industrial needs. Promote sustainable agriculture Inspire a global movement to conserve water change all threaten the world s water supply. properly, there will be enough water to meet To help ensure this is the case, WWF and The Coca-Cola Company are working with employees, bottling partners, communities and governments to promote water stewardship and conservation in seven of the world s most important freshwater basins: the Yangtze, Mekong, Danube, and Rio Grande/Rio Bravo rivers; Lake Niassa; the Mesoamerican Reef catchments; and the rivers and streams of the southeastern United States.

6 Improve water efficiency Reduce carbon emissions In this resource-constrained world, businesses that want to operate successfully will need to find ways to achieve growth while using natural resources including water more efficiently. Working with WWF, The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partners have a goal to improve water efficiency 20 percent by By the time we reach 2012, this is expected to save up to 50 billion liters of water use annually that s the equivalent of 20,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. Climate change is predicted to have a profound impact on the world s rainfall patterns, sea levels, river flows and freshwater reserves. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is critical to lessening these and other impacts of climate change. Through WWF s Climate Savers program, The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partners have a goal to stabilize carbon emissions in manufacturing operations worldwide and make a 5 percent absolute emissions reduction in developed countries by This is expected to prevent the release of more than 2 million metric tons of CO 2 an equivalent in climate benefit to planting 600,000 acres of trees.

7 Promote sustainable agriculture Inspire a global movement to conserve water Agriculture uses 70 percent of the world s water supply, so sustainable management of crop production is fundamental to protecting that supply. Our partnership promotes sustainable agriculture throughout the supply chains of The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partners. Partnership efforts are focused on the sustainable production of sugarcane, oranges and corn. WWF and The Coca-Cola Company are working together to help address the global water crisis through collaboration and partnership. We know we are not alone in wanting to conserve our valuable freshwater for generations to come, or in our desire to create sustainable business models to bring nature and industry into balance. We hope our collaboration will inspire a larger global movement of freshwater conservation. Do you have skills and leadership to contribute? We encourage you to think about how you can partner to protect our freshwater and other natural resources. We can all achieve more working together than working alone.

8 To learn more about our partnership: worldwildlife.org/water/cocacola wwf.thecoca-colacompany.com To find out how to build a collaborative partnership: worldwildlife.org/business Photo Credits Cover: Water drop splashing into blue water. Frank Parhizgar / Wwf-Canada Inside Cover: Danube channel to delta. Wilkowo, Ukraine. Anton Vorauer / Wwf Canon Page 1: Tursiops truncatus, bottle-nosed dolphin. Roatan, Bahia Islands, Mesoamerican Reef. Chris Martin Bahr / Wwf-Canon Page 2: Children s feet splashing in the water. Frank Parhizgar / WWF-Canada Page 3 (top): Rana dalmatina, agile frog. Danube River, Calarasi-Raul Island, Romania. Anton Vorauer / WWF-Canon Page 3 (bottom): Tribal women collect water from the Serepok River in the Lower Mekong River Basin. Elizabeth Kemf / WWF-Canon Page 4: Girl carrying water from the Serepok River in the Lower Mekong River Basin. Elizabeth Kemf / WWF-Canon Page 5: Grus antigone, sarus crane. Mekong region, SE Asia. Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon Page 6: Regelsbrunner Au (floodplain), Danube River. Michèle Dépraz / WWF-Canon Page 7: Stream in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, N.C. Southeast Rivers and Streams of the United States. Elizabeth Kemf / WWF Canon Page 8: Rinsing beverage packages with ionized air to reduce water use. Walter Smith Page 9: Wind turbines. Michel Gunther / WWF-Canon Page 10: Sugarcane. Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon Page 11: Fisherman at sunset on the flooded Dongting Lake. Hunan Province, China. Michel Gunther / WWF-Canon

9 Water sustains us. Conservation unites us. worldwildlife.org/water/cocacola wwf.thecoca-colacompany.com