UK
Medway (Kent) - Building resilience in the UK’s Soft Fruit Basket
Strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are a few of the fruits grown in this area. The river Medway is currently an over abstracted and highly altered waterway, and soft fruits like these require vast amounts of water to grow.
To encourage water stewardship, a series of demonstration sites have been set up to showcase holistic water management measures including the Hoo Peninsula, along the Beult and on the banks of river Teise. Through risk mapping and rainwater harvesting tools, growers can make decisions to preserve water specific to their site. There is an ongoing trial to capture growers’ views and experiences of environmental measures and recovery as part of ELMs.
More demonstration sites are to be developed in the future, to include both top and stone fruit farms. Water stewardship is kickstarting conversations with growers that extend to carbon and biodiversity net gain.
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CamEO (East Anglia)
The Cam and Ely Ouse (CamEO) catchment areas include 40 businesses and stakeholders, reaching over 5000 farmers. This a key sourcing area for pig and poultry production, potatoes, veg & salad crops, cereals, oil seeds and sugar beet. The catchment area has a history of diffuse pollution from farms and uncertainty on future availability.
A range of regenerative agriculture best practise guidance is provided alongside trials. Potato and sugar beet growers are trialling sustainable rotations, pig producers have been focusing on improving soil health and water stewardship in outdoor systems through utilizing grass leys.
So far, the project has helped to establish 19 hectares of species rich grassland and other interventions across ~800ha, which has contributed to 1.5 billion litres of water being replenished back to nature since July 2018.
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Wye and Usk (West of England and Wales)
The rivers Wye and Usk are located in key sourcing areas for livestock, vegetables, fruit and cereals. Both are habitats for vulnerable and endangered species, support a major fishing industry and provide drinking water to the surrounding counties. These rivers are at risk from agri-industry diffuse pollution, particularly high phosphate levels in the Wye from free-range poultry.
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Southern Spain
Almería, Murcia and Valencia (Southern Spain)
33% of the fruit and veg consumed in the UK comes from Southern Spain yet it’s also one of the top ten most at-risk areas in terms of water risk. Collective action is needed to combat pollution from agrochemicals, unsustainable water abstraction for irrigation, and the ecological impact of dams for water storage. Agriculture is also causing problematic alterations to riverbanks, riverbeds, and river flows.
The priority locations identified in Southern Spain are:
- Andalusia: Doñana (Huelva), Axarquía (Málaga), Campo de Níjar-Bajo Andaratx and Campo de Dalías (Almería)
- Murcia: Mar Menor (Murcia),
- Valencia: Lower Jucar (Valencia)
Regulatory and reputational risks are also present in these areas, especially regarding illegal water use in the Doñana and Murcia areas, and in relation to pollution of the Mar Menor coastal lagoon.
Examples of possible actions that might be carried out in these locations include reductions in the (illegally) irrigated area; reductions in fertiliser use; creation of buffer zones & ecological corridors; recovery of coastal lagoons and river/aquifer connectivity; water allocation limits; land use planning agreements; innovation around climate-adapted crops; groundwater monitoring and recovery of intermittent surface water bodies.
Alongside collective action, the projects will network and engage with businesses, growers and local stakeholders. Further information on this project will be available soon.
Kenya
Lake Naivasha Basin
In Kenya, water is an essential resource for agriculture, to grow produce including tea, cut flowers, vegetables (mainly legumes like green beans and mange tout), exotic fruit, and coffee, but also for local communities and nature - The Naivasha River Basic supports a diverse ecosystem of native species.
The overall aim of this collective action project is to combine science, community involvement, and strategic planning in order to provide better data on the condition of rivers in the basin, increase sustainable water management, and restore a resilient and thriving ecosystem. All of these actions will help to secure water resources for generations to come.
The project, led by WWF Kenya and launched in 2019 has made progress in enhancing water management within the Lake Naivasha basin (LNB). Initial steps in the project included creating River Health Assessment (RHA) toolkits which have provided valuable insight to the health of freshwater ecosystems and training sixty citizen scientists who are able to collect valuable data and engage with communities.
This river data is being collected in a web portal to target future action more appropriately and empower decision-making which has contributed to the “Journey of Water” campaign, raising awareness about threats to water resources in the area. More than half of the agricultural businesses involved in the project have completed effluent discharge management plans in support with the Water Resources Authority and over 200 water abstractors have been inspected to ensure compliance with water abstraction regulations.
Moving forwards, the project will extend the geographical scope to include catchments within the Athi Basin and Upper Ewaso Nyiro as well as including a wider range of businesses that source water from the regions. WWF South Africa will continue defining and documenting best practices related to agricultural wastewater treatment, exploring the integration of elements related to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and continued stakeholder engagement, convening diverse voices to understand water quality and quantity pressures on the Lake Naivasha Basin. Based on this additional information, an updated action plan will be created to support the resilience of water ecosystems and local communities.
You can find out more about this collective action project here.
South Africa
Koue Bokkeveld (Groot Winterhoek, South Africa)
The Koue Bokkeveld catchment has many fruit and vegetable farms as well as being home to critically endangered plants and animals. The WWF South Africa Water Stewardship programme works with 24 farms to utilize water in both farming and restoring nature.
They are focussing on clearing invasive plant species as well as researching and protecting the critically endangered, Twee River Redfin fish among other endangered species. Their water sharing tool enables farmers to predict water availability in changing conditions.
The project has created over 30 jobs and cleared 533 hectares of native vegetation invaded by alien tree species, with up to 102 million litres of water saved per year. In the future, WWF are looking to expand this work to other catchments.
More info
Peru
Ica Valley
Pomegranates, avocados, grapes, blueberries, citrus, and asparagus are grown in this region, which has been identified as a priority sourcing area, susceptible to environmental and social stress because of water use.
This water stewardship project, launched in September 2023, is a collaborative initiative led by The Sustainability Initiative Fruit and Vegetables (SIFAV), overseen by IDH (Sustainable Trade Initiative), an international NGO headquartered in the Netherlands. Backing partners include 10 EU and UK retailers and traders, 19 Peruvian agricultural exporters, 3 civil society organizations, and the Netherlands’ government program Partners for Water, the Nature’s Pride Foundation.
Planned outcomes include strengthening the catchment’s water cycle, increasing biodiversity, reducing soil runoff, enhancing the wellbeing of communities withing the region, and creating an evidence-based overarching long-term water stewardship plan for the area.
The current 12-month inception phase aims to collect and integrate input from various relevant stakeholders (up- and downstream local communities, businesses, growers, and suppliers) regarding the impact of food production on water, biodiversity, and livelihoods within the Ica catchment.
This will then influence a refined data-driven strategic and inclusive action plan for more sustainable water management in Ica, encompassing nature-based solutions and agricultural innovation strategies.
You can find out more about this collective action project on the SIFAV and WRAP websites.
Saisnbury’s have also spearheaded project in Ica in partnership with KEW botanical gardens. The details of this project can be found here.