WRAP’s response to Water Witness' Report
WRAP is hugely concerned about the global water crisis, and our broken food system. WRAP and the businesses participating in the project are committed to playing our part in restoring sustainable water management in Ica. We welcome the Water Witness report which confirms that collaboration and collective action are the only ways to address the systemic water challenges in Ica and facing other regions of the world with similar chronic stresses on their water resources. Collective action is widely recognised by experts around the world as the solution to deliver sustainable water stewardship.
WRAP and supporters of the Water Roadmap have joined forces with IDH and members of the SIFAV initiative to build an international consortium of experts and food businesses to deliver a collective action project in Ica, delivering practical change on the ground.
This has been no easy feat as the situation in Ica is complex. Solving the water crisis requires careful engagement with local people, local authorities and local producers to gain their trust and support. The SIFAV collective action project in Ica started investing in stakeholder engagement in 2018, providing a strong platform for the Water Roadmap and UK businesses to get behind. The first phase of the project has already delivered 68km of infiltration ditches and orchestrated the planting of thousands of native trees to reduce run-off. Although upstream infiltration alone is not enough, it has successfully brought together a coalition of public and private actors in Peru and Europe committed to managing water responsibly for the relevant stakeholders in the catchment.
The collective action project in Ica itself took years of careful engagement with local communities, policy makers and businesses before we could initiate work, but that provides us a solid platform to scale delivery. Delivery on the ground continues, and in tandem we are actively developing the second phase of the project and expanding its ambitions to reflect the important findings Water Witness have brought to light.
The Water Witness report reinforces the need for further and faster action. We are proud of what has been achieved already through careful and sensitive steps working in collaboration with local people, but Water Witness' report demands further and faster action. The UK market represents less than 10% of fruit and vegetable exports from Peru, and other countries source their produce from the region as well. So, we urge businesses and governments from other major export markets for Ica across Europe and the US to join us in working together to accelerate these positive impacts in the catchment.
Just as collaboration is key to improving the situation, so inaction by others will doom the region to worsening impacts.
WRAP commends Water Witness for bringing these issues to public attention via their report. We are very concerned by the global water crisis and are working closely with retail businesses and their suppliers through our Water Roadmap projects, in Ica and elsewhere, to build effective collective action. We are committed to playing our part in restoring sustainable water management in Ica.