The tangible value of increased water efficiency, reuse and recycling and improved social license to operate are moving more companies to adopt water stewardship strategies. This book frames an expanded strategy for water stewardship and business value creation, including brand value, that benefits a range of stakeholders including consumers, customers, investors and employees. The book shows that until recently the linkage between full business value and water stewardship has been missing from the corporate agenda. This linkage and value creation from a leading water strategy is increasingly important to socially responsible investors and "aspirationals" who value companies that have a social mission or focus to their overall business strategy. In general the largest portion of a company’s market capitalization is intangible value and understanding how a water strategy contributes to this intangible value is essential. The authors include cases studies and a framework or path forward to guide companies as they seek to build leading water strategy that goes beyond water stewardship to drive full business value from this investment. The book establishes the linkages and value from an integrated water and business strategy and an approach for companies to follow.

Achieving true wholesome sustainability requires a change of heart. Hence this book starts in the heart. It asks the timely question of ‘how do we become true water stewards?’ The transformation to a new sustainable practice will be made through a new connection with our heart, a more holistic type of analysis (brains) and the right actions based on personal integrity (hand). A water steward should be similar to the shepherds of olden days. They were given the responsibility to guard the sheep. The village trusted they would take care of the flock, make sure it would be well fed, protected from storms and kept together. The shepherd learned to take a long term perspective for the flock, ensuring that the pastures were not overgrazed, that the flock was not led too far away from access to water and that shelter was in reach in the event of storms and dangerous predators. Over time the shepherds became increasingly skilled in caring for the flock. They integrated the responsibility of the well-being of the flock into their identity. In a similar way, we can take the responsibility for human water consumption and our interaction with the natural world. We need to understand and work according to the big picture and the very long term perspective. Being a water steward requires deep reflection of how water should be treated and our relationship with water. Water utility professionals have the knowledge and have been trusted with the role of managing human water consumption. This is a great responsibility and requires deep reflection of how this should be done. The book will present ideas and concepts for the new role as well as questions for personal reflection.

Sustainable Use of Water by Industry: Perspectives, Incentives, and Tools

This interdisciplinary book brings philosophers and non-philosophers to the table to address questions of water ethics, specifically in terms of how moral questions inform decision making around water security at local, national, and international scales. Water security, which pertains to the experience of assured access to clean water, is a broad concept that intersects human rights, politics, economics, law, legislation, public health, trade, agriculture, and energy. Decisions made at each of these intersection points have ramifications for human well being, especially for the populations that are marginalized in a societal and political sense. In this book, the ethical dimensions of decision-making at those intersection points are explored, and real-world examples are used to tease out some key insights. It charts how ethical consideration can help shape a future in which everyone will be water secure.

This book provides a comprehensive assessment of how local corporate water strategies influence global water governance objectives. In various geographies, companies spearhead a quest for more sustainable water management within and beyond their own operations. This book critically examines such strategies and provides an overarching analysis of the effects that mounting corporate involvement has had on the global water discourse. More specifically, it explains why companies from the food, beverage, textile, and mining sectors have started to incorporate water management objectives into their business strategies, how companies work in partnerships with other stakeholders to realize these objectives, and how these actions acquire wider political legitimacy. It presents insightful interview material from business leaders and other high-level stakeholders. Readers will gain the necessary knowledge to develop a critical view and respond appropriately.

The Roles of International Law in Development provides an in-depth analysis of the relationship between public international law and development. Unlike the existing body of literature on public international law, this book investigates how international law and development interact, and evaluates how significant a role international law plays in development. Bringing together a collection of perspectives from contributors working across multiple development fields, the chapters explore the relevance and applicability of international law to particular sectors and issues implicated in development activities. They analyse how international law rules and processes can influence procedural and substantive aspects of development policies as these regulate various forms of financial support, trade, technical assistance, and policy dialogue. They also explore whether, and how, development could be more effective and yield more equitable and sustainable outcomes if the relevant and applicable rules of international law were better understood, consistently incorporated, and appropriately applied in development activities. One of the foundational premises of this book is that development policy and practice should be grounded more systematically in international law, rejecting the notion that development policy is a 'self-contained' regime operating in a legal vacuum. By reflecting the substantive rules of international law, this in turn anchors development in international legal accountability.