Water Stewardship in Pakistan

Promoting Responsible use of freshwater by ensuring sustainable social, economic and environmental benefits

Mismanagement of water resources by government and business has resulted in very serious water scarcity conditions in Pakistan and it will have implications for the sustainability of future supply chains for business and industry. Under these circumstances, the corporate sector has to play a role at the policy making and implementation levels, for securing their supply chains in future by propagating sustainable water use at different levels of operations.

What is Water Stewardship?

The Word “Stewardship” is about taking care of something that we do not own. It is an approach towards management of public goods like freshwater, on the premise that we are accountable for the sustainability of the resource (Alliance for Water Stewardship).
Stewardship goes beyond being an efficient water user. Water stewardship is promoted as a practical approach for business and industry to address their common and shared responsibilities with other stakeholders in order to reduce the footprints of water usage and to work towards sustainable water resources. Rise in demand and increased usage of water in the corporate sector depicts that the supply chains of business dependent upon the Indus basin would be at risk for continued future operations.

WWF-Pakistan, being an international environmental NGO, believes that it is time that water-dependent businesses should come forward and take responsibility towards sustainable usage of this precious resource. A slight shock in the system can adversely affect the supply chains and the production cycle of these concerns, affecting profits and livelihoods of all those who are associated with it.
WWF-Pakistan not only aims at reducing the water footprints but also urges business and companies to look beyond their own operations, so as to advocate, support and promote better basin governance for sustainable water resource management.
Keeping the international experience of its offices around the globe on working with business on water, WWF-Pakistan has laid down certain objectives to collaborate with private, public and NGO :

Promote the concept, ideas, and elements of water stewardship in private sector and the government institutions of the country;

Enhance the willingness, capability and capacity of industrial sector to effectively contribute to the water policy making, planning, and programmes;

Convince and mobilize the industry and government institutions of Pakistan, and international bilateral and multilateral institutions and multinationals to make investments in the water stewardship of Pakistan under public-private partnerships;

Capitalize on and strengthen the industry-farmers-community networks and align their efforts with water stewardship ideas;

Persuade industry to invest in wastewater treatment, cleaner production, and water stewardship; and

Conduct research on water stewardship concepts and elements for Pakistan.

For more information Please Contact

Ali Hasnain Sayed
Manager Policy- Freshwater
ahsayed@wwf.org.pk