Water appears in a cycle, the water cycle. In the water cycle, water is present as clouds, rain, soil moisture, streams and rivers, groundwater, lakes, seas and oceans. Water connects many if not all of Earth´s systems. It connects species and ecosystems, rivers with lakes, mountains to seas, earth to the sky, and also us, people, to the entire Earth system. Understanding this will help trigger action for more sustainable water use.
The issue:
Water is so fundamental to our lives, our societies and our economies, that paradoxally, it is often forgotten. Many people and organisations do not really grasp that their activities and life are often fully dependent on the water cycle. This results in a continued increase of water use and water pollution leading to water scarcity and degradation of many of the Earth´s watersheds.
How we work:
In all our projects, we help people to get an increased awareness and understanding of water so that they may get more engaged on water and more able to act for sustainable water use. For this we use the Water Canvases (c). Water Canvases is a tool to help people understand water basics and the specific water situation in their catchment and/or value chains. At the same time Water Canvases stimulate people to define water actions toward designing and implementng productive activities in their catchments that keep ecosystems healthy.
Tool: