Water Footprint (ISO 14046) in Latin America, State of the Art and Recommendations for Assessment and Communication

Abstract

Due to the importance of water management, and good governance for humanity’s wellbeing and future, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda has established the global Water Goal (SDG 6). Mobilization of the different sectors is required. The private sector has an important role, and it is increasingly aware of the substantial water risks for business. Thus, it is timely to quantify and monitor potential environmental impacts with an international standard (ISO 14046:2014), in order to prioritize investments to reduce the direct and indirect impacts from water uses within the production of goods and services. The objectives of this project were: (1) To scale knowledge, networking and generate leadership through exchanges among 43 professionals from 14 Latin American countries; (2) to develop recommendations to improve coherence in the quantification, verification and communication of the water footprint in the region; and (3) to structure and publish the recommendations, available tools/methods and key challenges in open access guidelines. This effort resulted in an active and continuous-growth community for water footprint practice in Latin America. This article describes the process to achieve the Regional Guidelines and other results.

Keywords

• water footprint
• Latin America
• ISO 14046
• impacts
• water uses
• guidelines recommendations