Water and sustainable development: A business perspective

“Scarce, cheap, and wasted. In too many places water is a triple paradox,” says this updated WBCSD paper on water, which was originally prepared for the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in April 2004. Its message is straightforward: with no water there can be no business.

According to the paper, the way forward lies in:

  • Sharing resources: water resources must be shared to meet competing demands
  • Unlocking finance: to attract investment, governments need to implement policies for effective cost recovery, so that the price of water reflects its true value
  • Mobilizing know-how for delivery systems: business resources can be leveraged to transfer knowledge, share technologies, help build local capacity, and support sustainable growth of small and medium enterprises

Further information


Categorisations

Partnership types

Advocacy of global issues

Regions / countries / territories

Americas: United States

Global issues

Water and related ecosystems