PHL business, USAID form Water Alliance to tackle supply problems

Business leaders and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have formed a “Water Alliance” to find solutions to the impending shortage of global water supply, the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP).
 
The PBSP said the water alliance was inspired by the success of the “CEO Water Mandate,” a partnership between the international business community and the United Nations.
 
“We hope to be the voice of the industry in advocating for the necessary policies which will address the challenges in water that the country is facing,” Edgar Chua, country chairman of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation and a member of the PBSP Board of Trustees, said in a statement on Thursday.
 
The demand from the earth’s water supply would exceed 40 percent by 2030 because of the rapid increase in population, according a study done by McKinsey & Company for the World Economic Forum.
 
The study noted that Asia, the world’s most populous region, has the highest annual water withdrawal and the Philippines is withdrawing more than double the average world withdrawal per person per year. Water scarcity is being experienced in many parts of the country.
 
Launched in 2007, the “CEO Water Mandate” focuses on developing strategies and solutions to contribute to the emerging global water crisis.
 
As an international movement of companies, CEO Water is working to find solutions to water scarcity and sanitation in direct operations, supply chain and watershed management, collective action, public policy, community engagement and transparency.
 
PBSP said the alliance in the Philippines will prepare a water agenda in line with the national policy as the business sector’s contribution to the problems in water security.
 
The Water Alliance will be a platform for companies to tackle water security and access through the "Be Secure" project (Water Security for Resilient Economic Growth and Stability) of USAID. – Tino Pamintuan/VS, GMA News