The Nature Conservancy has worked on more than 600 freshwater projects around the world, from Maine’s Penobscot River to Africa’s Zambezi, and we know what it takes to make and keep rivers and lakes healthy. We have deep roots in communities around the world, empowering people to protect the waters that sustain their families, businesses and quality of life.

To contribute to solving the world’s water problems, we must work with corporations to improve water management practices. In addition to depleting natural water sources, many corporations continue to pollute rivers and lakes: 70 percent of industrial waste water in developing countries is not treated before being discharged into the environment, thus degrading ecological health, endangering species and making water unfit for human use. Our experts, therefore, are advising large multi-national companies as well as investment banks, such as the International Finance Corporation, on sensible alternatives to destructive water use practices.

The Nature Conservancy is advising a growing number of companies on how to:

• quantify their corporate water footprint;
• determine their vulnerability to water shortages;
• assess the potential ecological and social impacts of their water use in specific watersheds; and
• design and implement watershed projects that improve water conditions, ecological and social health and lower corporate risks.

We continue to evaluate which consumer products account for the greatest water use so that we can target our efforts with the companies producing these goods. (The top 10 most water consumptive crops are: rice, wheat, maize, soybeans, sugar cane, cotton, barley, sorghum, coconut and millet.)

Although we are beginning to engage with some of the largest growers of these crops, we also are partnering with the biggest buyers of these crops. For example, because beverage companies buy much of the world’s supply of sugar, we have entered into partnerships with The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo and many other companies.