World Water Day is an annual United Nations Observance, held on March 22, specializing in the significance of freshwater. Access to water is a human proper, but, 2.2 billion folks stay with out safely managed consuming water companies. Water can be on the coronary heart of adaptation to local weather change, serving because the essential hyperlink between the local weather system, human society and the setting.
This yr’s theme for World Water Day is “Water for Peace,” which focuses on water’s very important position in making a extra secure and affluent world.
As a part of Cisco’s Purpose to Power and Inclusive Future for All, we put money into options that construct resiliency for communities, people and pure ecosystems, together with equitable entry to scrub and reasonably priced consuming water.
Cisco and the Cisco Foundation, by our money grant packages and know-how donations to nonprofit organizations, assist organizations which can be working to boost consciousness of worldwide water points, improve entry to secure consuming water, and shield this valuable pure useful resource. It’s one instance of how our social affect and environmental sustainability efforts come collectively in assist of an inclusive future. In honor of World Water Day, we want to shine a highlight on 4 of those nonprofits – to study extra about them, please preserve studying!
Cool.org has supported educators and oldsters with on-line, real-world, evidence-based schooling sources for 15 years.
With an emphasis on environmental sustainability, Cool weaves content material from business specialists and scientific organizations to create real-world sources that empower college students to deal with massive environmental challenges.
Since 2019, Cisco has been instrumental in supporting Cool to make sure their platform and methods are finest in school. This assist has performed a vital position within the improvement of their new educator-customized platform, saving time for educators and guaranteeing entry to distinctive sources for all educators globally.
Cool creates and provides educating sources about water – from the water cycle to marine biology, from hydropower to geothermal vitality, from conservation and diversifications. These sources present academics with a myriad of alternatives to deliver water into the classroom. Through partaking actions, college students can discover the wonders of water by Cool sources and develop a profound appreciation for its position in sustaining all life on Earth.
Join For Water modifications lives by guaranteeing water for folks and for nature. They function in Benin, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Mali, Uganda, Ecuador and Peru. Their tasks concentrate on consuming water, water for meals manufacturing, sanitation, environmental administration, and aware water consumption in higher earnings international locations.
Starting in 2020, Cisco offered a number of product grants of each {hardware} and subscriptions to Join For Water. Initially these grants consisted of 5 collaboration endpoints and supporting Webex subscription, which allowed for improved inter-office collaboration. The most up-to-date grant in 2023 offered a whole Meraki community resolution, now put in within the Belgian workplace. Cisco is at present working with Join For Water and a Cisco associate to equip 5 of the distant places of work with the same Meraki community, permitting for a safer and straightforward expertise in managing their international community.
These donations have helped Join For Water cut back prices and CO2 emissions associated to airplane journey. They have additionally enhanced connections between groups in Africa and South America that used to work individually from one another.
Join For Water says that Cisco assist is contributing to their efforts to enhance high quality of life for 420,000 folks over 5 years – most of them ladies. This consists of enabling 67,000 folks to get entry to first rate consuming water, 50,000 farmers to provide ample meals by irrigated fields, and seven,000 folks, primarily college kids, to achieve improved entry to bogs. Join For Water additionally anticipates defending and conserving 237,000 hectares of freshwater ecosystems throughout that five-year interval (2022 by 2026).
WaterHelp transforms lives by bettering entry to scrub water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) on the planet’s poorest communities. They work with native companions and affect decision-makers to maximise their affect.
With 40 years as an business chief, WaterHelp locations particular emphasis on evidence-based, sustainable options that assist communities prosper in the long run. They strengthen methods on the neighborhood and the nationwide degree. WaterHelp has reached 29 million folks with clear water, 29 million folks with first rate bogs and 28 million folks with good hygiene.
WaterHelp is working to rework the lives of individuals in rural La Guajira, Colombia, who’re compelled to drink untreated water, exposing them to a spread of lethal ailments, microbiological contaminants, elevated salinity ranges, and heavy metals.
Thanks to a Regional Solutions Grant from the Cisco Foundation in 2023, WaterHelp rolled out the primary cellular water high quality lab in La Guajira. By analyzing water high quality knowledge, communities can establish upkeep and restore wants, guaranteeing the longevity and effectiveness of water methods. Now there are fewer gastrointestinal sicknesses, instances of dehydration, and associated fatalities. The partnership has been key to multiplying the affect of a large-scale WASH funding undertaking just lately launched by WaterHelp and Colombia’s Ministry of Housing.
One Acre Fund helps smallholder farmers in 9 international locations throughout sub-Saharan Africa in gaining the data and means to attain massive harvests, assist wholesome households, and domesticate wealthy soil. One Acre Fund is now elevating their farmer-facing mannequin with know-how and is pursuing a remote-sensing technique to supply farmers data-driven suggestions that can enhance their farm yields and provide crucial local weather safety. This steering could embody an alert for when a serious shock like a flood is coming.
Providing correct flood prediction is essential as a result of lately, heavy seasonal rains in East Africa have more and more led to devastating floods. Poor land administration practices and excessive droughts can result in erosion and dry soil, decreasing the land’s potential to soak up water and rising floor runoff throughout heavy rains. For farmers which can be closely reliant on rain-fed agriculture, flooding can result in crop destruction, lack of livestock, harm to infrastructure reminiscent of irrigation methods and roads, and displacement of native communities, all of which may pose threats to livelihoods and meals safety within the area.
In many international locations within the Global North, flood maps are normally made utilizing stream gauges that monitor rising water ranges, which aren’t available in East Africa on account of restricted monetary sources and poor infrastructure. Cisco Foundation helps One Acre Fund’s pilot program to develop distant sensing capabilities by evaluation of knowledge from modeling packages and on-the-ground validation.
Learn extra about how Cisco and the Cisco Foundation assist nonprofit organizations on our ESG Reporting Hub.
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