Advancing the Global Discussion on Stewardship: NatuReS at the Global Water Stewardship Forum 2025
In June 2025, NatuReS joined the international water stewardship community in Edinburgh, Scotland, for this year’s Global Water Stewardship Forum. Host of the event is the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), a global collaboration of businesses, NGOs and the public sector to encourage and reward sustainable use of water resources. NatuReS (and formerly IWaSP) has been a strategic partner of this alliance since 2014, promoting its principles in our partnerships and supporting the advancement of a global standard for corporate stewardship.
Beyond the practical partnership implementation, NatuReS’ engagement in such international discussions is crucial to advance the stewardship approach globally. And the Water Stewardship Forum is the key event for this. This year, it gathered 281 delegates to share knowledge, showcase collective action, and discuss the evolution of water stewardship practice. It also provided a platform to discuss how to leverage stewardship within global and national debates on water security, climate, inclusion, and economic growth.
Showcasing NatuReS’ approach and achievements at the conference stage
NatuReS was represented at the event by its head of project Sarah Beerhalter and implementation manager in Tanzania, Fridtjof Behnsen. As panellists, both actively contributed NatuReS’ rich experience in supporting stewardship multi-stakeholder partnerships to two sessions:
National policy collaboration to advance water stewardship action
Alongside other international experts, Ms Beerhalter presented a success story from Ethiopia. Here, NatuReS – through long-standing experience – has been able to work with the Ministry of Water and Energy on its Guideline for the Protection, Rehabilitation and Restoration of Surface Water Bodies. The guideline (publication later this year) contains practical recommendations, principles and best practices – with the stewardship approach as central component. Ms Beerhalter showcased how collaborative stewardship action on the ground in Hawassa paved the way for this achievement, building trust between stakeholders, creating visible results and thereby attracting national interest.
Read more on this case and the process to policy anchoring here.
Opportunities and learnings from industrial parks for scaling up water stewardship
In this session, Mr Behnsen presented highlights from NatuReS’ work in Tanzania. This ranges from looking at water risks and water security within a single special economic zone in Dar es Salaam together with the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) (see here) to where we are now at the national level. To generate city-wide impact, NatuReS has been supporting the Wami/Ruvu Basin Water Board in the development of the online system WUMIS for effective water and wastewater permitting. Throughout the process, NatuReS has contributed to the development of wastewater management guidelines for EPZA, as well as application support for WUMIS and its uptake across two further water boards.
Again, the example shows how partnerships and solutions were refined in a confined industrial zone before scaling. Understanding stakeholders’ needs and creating a shared vision were vital for securing commitments, while active policymaker engagement ensured alignment with public interest and higher-level support.
The conference demonstrated NatuReS II’s unique ability to effectively involve public stakeholders in stewardship initiatives with the private sector. Therefore, the project contributes important learning experiences and provides significant added value to the global stewardship community.