Answer 1:
Water is among the most precious of natural resources, essential for the survival of life on Earth. As the global population has grown, demands on the finite supply of fresh water have increased dramatically. More than half of all available fresh water is now appropriated for use by the planet’s 6.1 billion people. Yet hundreds of millions of people already lack adequate access to the clean water they need for drinking, cooking, sanitation and agriculture. In addition, human development is diminishing wetlands, the critical ecosystem that helps to filter fresh water. Similarly, increased human use of water threatens wildlife and their habitats. The world’s women are disproportionately affected by insufficient access to clean water. Furthermore, pollution and the effects of climate change are creating additional pressures that are rapidly impacting on what little freshwater supplies we have left.
Water is about to become the world’s most critical resource. We are now witnessing one of the world’s most significant and underreported public health, development and economic challenges – water insecurity.
Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand. Population, household size, and growth and affluence all affect how much water is used. Factors such as climate change have increased pressures on natural water resources especially in manufacturing and agricultural irritation. Many US cities have already implemented policies aimed at water conservation, with much success.
The goals of water conservation efforts include:
Ensuring availability of water for future generations where the withdrawal of freshwater from an ecosystem does not exceed its natural replacement rate. Energy conservation as water pumping, delivery and wastewater treatment facilities consume a significant amount of energy. In some regions of the world over 15% of total electricity consumption is devoted to water management. Habitat conservation where minimizing human water use helps to preserve freshwater habitats for local wildlife and migrating waterfowl, but also water quality.
The key activities that benefit water conservation (save water) are as follows:
Any beneficial reduction in water loss, use and waste of resources. Avoiding any damage to water quality. Improving water management practices that reduce the use or enhance the beneficial use of water.
One strategy in water conservation is rain water harvesting. Digging ponds, lakes, canals, expanding the water reservoir, and installing rain water catching ducts and filtration systems on homes are different methods of harvesting rain water. Harvested and filtered rain water could be used for toilets, home gardening, lawn irrigation, and small scale agriculture.
Another strategy in water conservation is protecting groundwater resources. When precipitation occurs, some infiltrates the soil and goes underground. Water in this saturation zone is called groundwater. Contamination of groundwater causes the groundwater water supply to not be able to be used as resource of fresh drinking water and the natural regeneration of contaminated groundwater can takes years to replenish. Some examples of potential sources of groundwater contamination include storage tanks, septic systems, uncontrolled hazardous waste, landfills, atmospheric contaminants, chemicals, and road salts. Contamination of groundwater decreases the replenishment of available freshwater so taking preventative measures by protecting groundwater resources form contamination is an important aspect of water conservation.
An additional strategy to water conservation is practicing sustainable methods of utilizing groundwater resources. Groundwater flows due to gravity and eventually discharges into streams. Excess pumping of groundwater leads to a decrease in groundwater levels and if continued it can exhaust the resource. Ground and surface waters are connected and overuse of groundwater can reduce and, in extreme examples, diminish the water supply of lakes, rivers, and streams. In coastal regions, over pumping groundwater can increase saltwater intrusion which results in the contamination of groundwater water supply. Sustainable use of groundwater is essential in water conservation.
A fundamental component to water conservation strategy is communication and education outreach of different water programs. Developing communication that educates science to land managers, policy makers, farmers, and the general public is another important strategy utilized in water conservation. Communication of the science of how water systems work is an important aspect when creating a management plan to conserve that system and is often used for ensuring the right management plan to be put into action.
Water conservation programs involved in social solutions are typically initiated at the local level, by either municipal water utilities or regional governments. Common strategies include public outreach campaigns, tiered water rates (charging progressively higher prices as water use increases), or restrictions on outdoor water use such as lawn watering and car washing. Cities in dry climates often require or encourage the installation of xeriscaping or natural landscaping in new homes to reduce outdoor water usage. Most urban outdoor water use in California is residential, illustrating a reason for outreach to households as well as businesses.
One fundamental conservation goal is universal metering. The prevalence of residential water metering varies significantly worldwide. Recent studies have estimated that water supplies are metered in less than 30% of UK households, and about 61% of urban Canadian homes (as of 2001). Although individual water meters have often been considered impractical in homes with private wells or in multifamily buildings, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that metering alone can reduce consumption by 20 to 40 percent. In addition to raising consumer awareness of their water use, metering is also an important way to identify and localize water leakage. Water metering would benefit society in the long run it is proven that water metering increases the efficiency of the entire water system, as well as help unnecessary expenses for individuals for years to come. One would be unable to waste water unless they are willing to pay the extra charges, this way the water department would be able to monitor water usage by public, domestic and manufacturing services.
Some researchers have suggested that water conservation efforts should be primarily directed at farmers, in light of the fact that crop irrigation accounts for 70% of the world's fresh water use.[19] The agricultural sector of most countries is important both economically and politically, and water subsidies are common. Conservation advocates have urged removal of all subsidies to force farmers to grow more water-efficient crops and adopt less wasteful irrigation techniques.
New technology poses a few new options for consumers, features such and full flush and half flush when using a toilet are trying to make a difference in water consumption and waste. Also available are modern shower heads that help reduce wasting water: Old shower heads are said to use 5-10 gallons per minute, while new fixtures available are said to use 2.5 gallons per minute and offer equal water coverage.
Water-saving technology for the home includes:
Low-flow shower heads sometimes called energy-efficient shower heads as they also use less energy Low-flush toilets and composting toilets. These have a dramatic impact in the developed world, as conventional Western toilets use large volumes of water Dual flush toilets created by Carom includes two buttons or handles to flush different levels of water. Dual flush toilets use up to 67% less water than conventional toilets Faucet aerators, which break water flow into fine droplets to maintain "wetting effectiveness" while using less water. An additional benefit is that they reduce splashing while washing hands and dishes Raw water flushing where toilets use sea water or non-purified water Waste water reuse or recycling systems, allowing:
*Reuse of gray water for flushing toilets or watering gardens
*Recycling of wastewater through purification at a water treatment plant
*Garden hose nozzles that shut off water when it is not being used, instead of letting a hose run.
*Low flow taps in wash basins.
Answer 2:
The idea of human rights is as simple as it is powerful: that people have a right to be treated with dignity. Human rights are inherent in all human beings, whatever their nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or other status. Every individual is entitled to enjoy human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
Human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the form of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations on States to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drawn up by representatives from many nations to prevent a recurrence of the atrocities of the Second World War and is the cornerstone of modern human rights law. At the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993, all 171 participating countries reaffirmed their commitment to the aspirations expressed in that document.
The Universal Declaration is codified in international law through the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both of 1966. Each of the Covenants has been ratified by over 150 States. Collectively, all three documents are known as the International Bill of Human Rights.
Regarding the particular human rights of workers, the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work commits all its member States to four categories of principles and rights: freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of compulsory labour; the abolition of child labour; and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. These are covered by the eight core conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Together, these documents constitute the minimum reference point for what the Guiding Principles describe as internationally recognized human rights. For a full list of the human rights contained in the International Bill of Human Rights and the core ILO conventions, see Annex A.
B. The relevance of human rights to business
International human rights treaties generally do not impose direct legal obligations on business enterprises. It is the duty of States to translate their international human rights law obligations into domestic law and provide for their enforcement. Indeed, the laws of all States include various protections against human rights abuse by business, including labour laws, non-discrimination laws, health and safety laws, environmental laws and similar.
At the same time, national laws may not address all internationally recognized human rights, they may be weak, they may not apply to all people, and they may not be enforced by governments and the courts. The Guiding Principles make clear that where national laws fall below the standard of internationally recognized human rights, companies should respect the higher standard; and where national laws conflict with those standards, companies should seek ways to still honour the principles of those standards within the bounds of national law.
Internationally recognized human rights are, therefore, relevant for business beyond mere compliance with the law. The actions of business enterprises can affect people’s enjoyment of their human rights either positively or negatively. Indeed, experience shows that enterprises can and do infringe human rights where they are not paying sufficient attention to this risk.
Enterprises can affect the human rights of their employees and contract workers, their customers, workers in their supply chains, communities around their operations and end users of their products or services. They can have an impact – directly or indirectly – on virtually the entire spectrum of internationally recognized human rights. Annex A provides some examples.
In practice, some rights will be more relevant than others in particular industries and circumstances, and companies will pay more attention to them. But, in principle, any enterprise could cause or contribute to an adverse impact on any internationally recognized human right.
The Guiding Principles, therefore, make clear:
The International Bill of Human Rights and the core ILO conventions provide the basic reference points for businesses in starting to understand what human rights are; how their own activities and business relationships may affect them; and how to ensure that they prevent or mitigate the risk of adverse impacts.
Depending on the circumstances of their operations, companies may need to consider additional human rights standards in order to ensure that they respect the human rights of people who may be disadvantaged, marginalized or excluded from society and, therefore, particularly vulnerable to impacts on their human rights, such as children, women, indigenous peoples, people belonging to ethnic or other minorities, or persons with disabilities.
The benefits to business of respecting human rights
The benefits and opportunities for companies that are recognized as respecting human rights include:
Improved risk management with less chance of business disruptions, public campaigns and criticism, litigation, reputational harm, and harm to employee retention and recruitment;
Greater access to business opportunities with governments, financers and business customers and buyers, who increasingly recognize the reduced risk to themselves when working with a company that effectively manages risks to human rights;
Positive recognition, including from socially responsible investors and civil society organizations, of the company’s improving human rights performance and its efforts to address challenges;
Improved relationships with workers, communities and other stakeholders in societies, resulting in greater trust and a stronger social licence to operate;
Improved ability to preserve their reputation when negative impacts occur, given better public understanding of their overall efforts to avoid such incidents;
Improved ability to recruit the next generation of young leaders, who are increasingly focused on companies’ performance in this area;
A comparative advantage with a growing number of stock exchanges and public and private financial institutions scrutinizing companies’ non-financial performance, including with regard to human rights.
II. THE UN GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
The Guiding Principles were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2011, supported by governments from all regions of the world.
A. The three pillars of the UN Guiding Principles
One of the major and widely recognized contributions of the Guiding Principles has been to clearly set out the duties of States and the responsibilities of companies to ensure that businesses operate with respect for human rights.
The Guiding Principles are founded on three pillars:
Since their endorsement, the Guiding Principles have driven a convergence in standards on business and human rights across the international arena, reinforcing their position as the authoritative global standard on business and human rights.
B. The corporate responsibility to respect human rights
Human rights impacts linked to companies’ activities and business relationships do not typically occur because companies intend or wish them to happen. On the contrary, most people working for companies expect and assume that they are not harming human rights as they go about their work. In practice, companies often become involved in human rights impacts because it requires attention and concerted action across the different parts of a company to ensure that they do not, and because the policies and processes to do so are often weak or absent.
The corporate responsibility to respect human rights, as set out in the second pillar of the Guiding Principles, is a standard of conduct for companies. The Guiding Principles make clear that companies should have in place:
A statement of their policy commitment to respect human rights;
A human rights due diligence process to:
assess their actual and potential human rights impacts;
integrate the findings and take action to prevent or mitigate potential impacts; track their performance;
communicate their performance;
Processes to provide or enable remedy to those harmed, in the event that the company causes or contributes to a negative impact.
KEY FEATURES OF THE CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY TO RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS
–> The responsibility relates explicitly to the risks to human rights that can result from companies’ activities and business relationships. There is increasing evidence that risks to human rights frequently converge with risks to business, for example, through operational disruptions, reduced productivity and challenges securing new business. However, risk to human rights is the starting point for the Guiding Principles and for this Reporting Framework.
–> Identifying and addressing human rights risks effectively requires an understanding of the perspectives of those who may be impacted. This means engaging wherever possible with those individuals whose human rights may be directly affected, or with their legitimate representatives. Where such direct engagement is not possible, companies may be able to gain insights into their perspectives through consultation with other stakeholders, including relevant independent experts, human rights defenders and others in civil society, and through reports and resources they have developed.
–> The responsibility to respect human rights applies across the company’s own activities and also to its business relationships. Business relationships include the company’s business partners, businesses in its value chain (including those that are one or more tiers removed) and any other business, government or other entity that is directly linked to its operations, products or services. The responsibility to respect therefore extends beyond impacts the company may cause or contribute to through its own activities and includes impacts that are linked to its operations, products or services without any cause or contribution on the company’s part. However, the nature of the responsibility is different in each instance. For more explanation of these distinctions, see the commentary to UN Guiding Principle 19.
–> The responsibility to respect human rights is distinct from a company’s efforts to support or promote human rights. Projects or other initiatives by companies to support or promote human rights can make a significant contribution to societies, but they are voluntary undertakings. By contrast, it is a baseline expectation of all companies, regardless of size, sector or operating context, that they at a minimum, avoid infringing on human rights, and that they address any harms with which they are involved. This responsibility cannot be offset by social investment or philanthropic activities.
C. The ongoing nature of implementation
Implementing the corporate responsibility to respect human rights takes time. Moreover, for many companies, the nature of human rights risks associated with their operations, products or services will change over time, as their operating contexts, activities and business relationships also change. Implementation is therefore an ongoing process.
The steps defined in the Guiding Principles empower companies to know and show that they are advancing adequately in their efforts to meet this responsibility. The expectation that companies should know and show how they are progressing in their human rights performance has reinforced calls for more and better corporate reporting in this regard.
Answer 3A
Carbon offsetting is an internationally recognised way to take responsibility for unavoidable carbon emissions. In a world where climate change is increasingly on the agenda and global emissions continue to grow, your customers, investors and staff are looking to your business to act responsibly.
In simple terms, offsetting one tonne of carbon means there will be one less tonne of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there would otherwise have been. It is the fastest way to achieve emissions reductions and the only way to achieve carbon neutrality.
No business can operate without a carbon footprint. Having reduced what they can, responsible businesses offset remaining, unavoidable emissions.
It is estimated that tackling climate change could create opportunities for a company to increase its value by up to 80% if it is well positioned and proactive. Conversely, a poor position can threaten up to 65% of value. (Carbon Trust : Climate Change, A Business Revolution)
Carbon offsets are:
The emergence and growth of global corporate rankings, like the CDP, show the increasing importance to investors that organisations measure, and reduce impact on the environment and are transparent in reporting their progress towards this.
HOW IT WORKS
Carbon offsetting is just one element of an integrated carbon management strategy, and this should be considered as a whole. Maximum value comes when organisations: