Water pressures disproportionally affect the food and drink sector because of the importance of water for agriculture. Climate change has brought with it unpredictable weather, resulting in water scarcity and flooding, causing significant disruptions that are increasing pressures on farmers. We urgently need to future-proof our food systems, and find sustainable solutions to meet the increasing need for good-quality water supplies.
By helping improve the ways that companies respond and adapt to water scarcity, we can help reduce water stress worldwide. WRAP’s collaboration and collective action programmes provide practical solutions to protect critical water resources. From securing food supplies to, supporting local communities through flood prevention.
Our solutions
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The Water Roadmap
Creating a secure future for water supplies is a key part of the UK Food and Drink Pact. The Water Roadmap sets out a vision and key pathways to address the challenges we collectively face in protecting critical water resources for food production, nature and local communities.
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Collective Action Projects
Through the Water Roadmap, we have established Collective Actions Projects in Kenya, Peru, South Africa, Spain and the UK, in partnership with WWF and The Rivers Trust and leading food and drink businesses. Water stress at a regional level affects us globally. That’s why we work on a localised level, adapting projects to different environmental contexts, dealing directly with issues in key sourcing areas for food and drink.
Progress and impact
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Kenya: Water Roadmap Collective Action Project
Improving basin management in Kenya: Focusing on the Lake Naivasha basin, our goal has been to support basin management by providing better data on the condition of rivers in the basin, outlining the key pressures to local water management organisations, as well as building compliance with the abstractors and dischargers in the region.
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Ica, Peru: Water Roadmap Collective Action Project
Improving water stewardship in Peru: WRAP combined forces with international NGO IDH and their Sustainability Initiative Fruit and Vegetables (SIFAV) in Ica, Peru for a project which focuses on strengthening the catchment’s water cycle and biodiversity, reducing soil runoff, and improving livelihoods of communities.
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South Africa: Water Roadmap Collective Action Project
Addressing risks in key sourcing areas for fruit in South Africa: Led by WWF South Africa, this project focuses on three key fruit-growing areas in the Western Cape that have been affected by droughts, which has in turn affected fruit crop yields, availability, and price stability. By improving water management and sustainable modelling tools at farm and catchment scale, we can begin to alleviate water stress.
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Mar Menor, Spain: Water Roadmap Collective Action Project
Water stewardship in southern Spain: Launched in 2021, led by Good Stuff International, collective action in Andalusia, Murcia and going forwards, Valencia, has helped establish water stewardship and reduce the incidences of illegal water use, dramatically reducing water-related risks in Spain's main fruit and vegetable production regions.
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Norfolk, UK: Water Roadmap Collective Action Project
Healthy and reliable water supplies are critical to sustaining the many key areas of food production across the UK. From East Anglia, Kent and Wales, our projects address the challenges that water stress presents across the land and livelihoods at the heart of food production communities around the country.