Why water sustainability is key to the success of the SDGs
The latest GRI podcast explores the role of business in water management. Tweet This!
What are the strategies and practical solutions that businesses and institutions can implement globally, to make sure that water – the most precious resource on Earth – is managed sustainably?
Global sustainable development leaders address this fundamental question and make the case for joint action to help ensure availability and access for all to water and sanitation services, in a new episode of SDGs: The Rising Tide. This podcast series from GRI explores corporate innovation supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
The episode features two experts in water management: Dennis van Peppen, International Water Programmes Team Lead at the Netherlands Enterprise and Development Agency, and Chong Mien Ling, Chief Sustainability Officer with the Singapore National Water Agency. They discuss the importance of a global water agenda and the role of business in implementing it.
Dennis van Peppen frames the challenge facing the global community, and why this important agenda is not receiving sufficient focus at the moment:
“In many places of the world, we are reaching the limits of our water resources. We urgently need a global water agenda, which simply does not exist. Climate has become a matter of survival for humanity and is being recognized as such, but there is less of a sense of urgency when it comes to water and the challenges associated with water management. Only those people who are working on the inside can clearly comprehend the crisis on the horizon.”
Chong Mien Ling sets out how Singapore’s historical and geographic context, in which it relied on water imports from Malaysia, led to a more innovative approach to securing water supplies of their own:
“Singapore is one of the most water stressed countries in the world. We quickly realized that we simply could not continue with business as usual. At the same time, we started to look into innovative technologies out there to help us reduce the amount of energy required in all processes linked to water management. In the end, we learned that small things can make a big difference.”
The first six episodes of The Rising Tide can be accessed now on Spotify, Apple, and Google podcast. GRI would like to thank the Government of Sweden for supporting this project through the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
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