This section explores the nuances of global water challenges, featuring insights by our researchers, collaborative pieces with our partners, and Q&A styled dialogues with industry experts. It complements our work by providing context, commentary, and a deeper understanding of our research findings.
Climate Change Vulnerability and Resilience
The science of climate change is compelling and strong, and has been for over two decades, telling us that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities not only will change, but are already changing the climate. The Pacific Institute, since its founding in 1987, has been addressing many of these vulnerabilities to climate change.
Climate Change Resilience in Developing Countries
Thousands of cities in the developing world are facing rising pressures on institutions and infrastructure due to population growth and urbanization. Hundreds of thousands of people globally wake up each day wondering where they will get water, how long they will wait for it, how much they will pay for it, what the quality of that water will be, and whether that water will be there tomorrow.
Climate Change and Water
Since its founding, the Pacific Institute has been at the forefront of research on the impacts of climate change on water resources and on strategies to reduce those impacts. The water cycle and the climate cycle are inextricably linked.
The CEO Water Mandate
The UN CEO Water Mandate is a unique public-private initiative – established by the UN Global Compact in 2007 and endorsed by global companies from a variety of industry sectors – designed to assist companies in the development, implementation, and disclosure of corporate water stewardship practices and policies.
Business Engagement with Water Policy
Many water-related business risks stem from ineffective or non-existent public water policy and management. These risks are much more difficult to address than those associated with internal business practice since companies have limited influence in public water governance and decision making.
Business Case for Water Sustainability
Emerging corporate practice and research suggest that the environmental, political, and social realities of the 21st century mean that environmentally and socially responsible corporate water management is not only an ethical responsibility for companies, but also increasingly an integral part of ensuring business viability and reducing business risk.
Water, Conflict, and Business
Water resources have rarely, if ever, been the sole source of violent conflict or war.
Popular Education and Leadership Development
Popular education is an approach to building leadership that draws upon the everyday experiences of the people most affected by an issue as an important source of knowledge. In this approach, people “scale up” their individual experiences by creating a space of trust to share and discuss patterns in their experiences at a community level.
Bottled Water
Sales and consumption of bottled water have skyrocketed in recent years. From 1988 to 2002, the sales of bottled water globally more than quadrupled to over 131 million cubic meters annually. Bottled water sales worldwide are continuing to increase annually far faster than almost any other category of commercial beverage.
Sustainability Standards Systems
Over the past two decades, there has been a rapid increase in the number of people who have looked to align their social and environmental values with the way they spend their money. This nascent shift in capitalism spans from the certified organic food people eat, to the ethically produced shoes and clothes they wear, to the Socially Responsible financial investments they make for retirement. Partly in response to this emerging societal phenomenon, companies large and small and other institutions (including government and the financial sector) are also seeking to work with suppliers and partners that have a positive track record regarding their social and environmental practices.