The night of the Award Event, in November 2013, we choose a winner and present them with the Water and Food Award statuette as well as prizes provided by our sponsors.

“Earth turns to gold
in the hands of the wise.”

 - Jalaluddin Rumi

See snapshots of some world-changing initiatives

WATER AND FOOD FOR ALL – STRENGTHENING WHAT WORKS

The Winner of the Humanitarian Water and Food Award 2010, Permaculture Institute with their Greening the Desert project in Jordan, represented by Rhamis Kent, and Founder and General Secretary of WAF, Tina Lindgreen

TOGETHER SOLVING A GLOBAL CHALLENGE

Over 837 million human beings (1 in 7) are without access to clean water and more than 913 million are undernourished. Through The Water & Food Award, we strengthen innovative and sustainable initiatives that are making a significant difference by empowering the poor and forgotten.

To see the WINNERS 2010 click here

To read more about the first Award Event from the 26th November 2010 click here

SUSTAINABLE SHARED VALUE PARTNERSHIPS

To maximize social, financial and environmental impact, WAF facilitates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) opportunities for mutual gain. The strategic fit between a Corporations and Award Winner give both an opportunity to prosper.

WAF

It is about human beings, about lives, about existence

The Water & Food Organisation has a vision – Water and Food for All. This concerns everyone and requires global outreach and collaboration. Award winners have the innovativeness and heart. Corporations the resources to scale up what works and can save many more lives.

The Water & Food Organisation conveys a message of hope and a call for public awareness about the Water and Food challenge. WAF calls for joint action across the business, citizen and public sectors of society.

Water is the universal elixir of life. It makes up more than 70 percent of our total body mass and covers the same proportion of the Earth’s surface. We can live without food for a month or more, but we will perish in a matter of days without water. Hence the

importance of keeping unseparated Water-and-Food as the most basic necessity.

 

 

Ambassador of Peace – Prem Rawat Honored in Potenza, Italy

“Our differences of opinion should be our strength, not our weakness. We have to learn to come together, and that can only happen when we see the necessity.”

Climate Action member of the Barroso Commission designate, Connie Hedegaard

“I am pleased to see that The Humanitarian Water & Food Award works for furthering Corporate Social Responsibility and the collaboration between business life and humanitarian organisations”

Former Danish Minister of Development, Ulla Toernes

WAF

“Denmark is internationally at the forefront. The Award goes hand-in-hand with the government’s efforts. So I want to say best foot forward and I hope that it will be a yearly event”

WAF

The Water & Food Award …

• offers a Corporate Social Responsibility platform for corporations who want to bring their best to help empower the poor and forgotten and expand their own business at the same time
• raises awareness of what works
• encourages that all people enjoy clean water and food in abundance
• short-lists humanitarian initiatives that make a significant difference and is scalable
• has fun volunteering – what can you do?

AWARD APPLICATION FOR 2012 IS  NOW CLOSED

Please register your e-mail on our front page. A notification will be sent when the next award application is available.

VIDEOS OF THE WINNERS 2010

Solvatten │ The Permaculture Institute│The Hunger Project │IKO toilets │ Sadhana Forest

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And other inspirational videos about positive initiatives

Read more about the award here…

In a recent article in grist.org, journalist David Roberts explains that

None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use

Citing a recent report [PDF] by environmental consultancy Trucost on behalf of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) program sponsored by United Nations Environmental Program, David Roberts explains

The notion of “externalities” has become familiar in environmental circles. It refers to costs imposed by businesses that are not paid for by those businesses. For instance, industrial processes can put pollutants in the air that increase public health costs, but the public, not the polluting businesses, picks up the tab. In this way, businesses privatize profits and publicize costs ….. if we take the idea seriously, not just as an accounting phenomenon but as a deep description of current human practices, its implications are positively revolutionary.

What is the actual tab that is being picked up by us? Trucost estimates that greenhouse gas emissions account38% of the use of natural capital. The effect on food security?

The British met office estimates (see their web page here) that some regions could benefit from climate change, while in others it may offset gains in food security from economic and social development. However, in the overall analysis some projections suggest that 100-200 million additional people could be at risk of hunger due to climate change by 2050.

So the costs of emitting green house gasses alone are negatively affecting the lives of millions. They are clearly picking up the tab, but not sharing in the profits.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-change/guide/impacts/food

To read this latest report on how climate system destabilization will affect food security, visit this link.

Click on this image to go to the Guardian Website and see the graphic in detail.

“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And terrifyingly, it’s happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it. He now believes — and his work so far shows — that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.

Allan Savory works to promote holistic management in the grasslands of the world.

See his talk here.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/sv/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s_deserts_and_reverse_climate_change.html

Sadhana Forest   creates a model of wasteland reclamation and sustainable living which can be easily replicated by the surrounding community near its home village and other developing countries. They were nominated  for the Award partly because they have demonstrated remarkable results and also that volunteer-ism is still alive.

We have talked about this so many times – of the oncoming food shortages that will affect all countries but be devastating for the poor. New facts after this year’s climate-change induced damage summer  show warning signs rising. This is the real code orange. It is food insecurity that is threatening. http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/oct/14/food-climate-change-population-water.

Overpopulation is not the problem. The problem is overconsumption, wasteful consumption and a misguided, fundamentally flawed economic system.

We often say that the business of business is putting  food on the table  - if your employess and those who sell and use your products and even supply your business cannot put food on their tables from their activities then there is no point in doing them. And hungry employees are not good for business. This Chinese factory is so inspiring as it is feeding employees from the gardens on its roof. Truly inspiring. Do you want to do this? Contact us we know a lot of gardeners we can put you in touch with!

Read more.

Food security plays a special role in people’s lives. We work to get it, when we don’t have it riots break out. One bad harvest, like the one in Russia 2011 can spark an Arab spring. A developed economy like that of the US where household expenditure on food is a mere 10% will see its economy devastated by rising food prices, as demand for other things falls off.

David Frum is a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast and a CNN contributor. In CNN’s opinion he breaks down the consequences to 2013 the effects of this year’s drought stricken harvests.

Read the article here.