What is the WAVE Partnership?

WAVE – the Water, Agriculture, Values, and Ecosystem Partnership is an organization dedicated to scaling a collective action approach to strenghten water and biodiversity management – with a focus on agri-food supply chains.

We do this by bringing together farmers, buyers, retailers, governments and NGOs to create catchments in balance - whereby water inflows, outflows and storage are sustainably managed to support healthy, biodiverse ecosystems and enhance local livelihoods.

Since 2023, we have activated the organization’s first project in the Aconcagua valley in Chile. Building on these strong foundations, over the coming years, the partnership aims to scale its approach across other catchments out of balance – including in South America and Africa.

Learn more about the Aconcagua Project

Our Strategy

Our Strategy: A catchment-level approach

We take a holistic catchment level approach, bringing in solutions at the farm, supply chain and enabling environment levels to develop economically viable solutions, backed by shared responsibility, smarter incentives, and aligned investments across the supply chain. Through WAVE, we:

More sustainable farming practices

collaborate with farmers to support the implementation of more sustainable practices,

More resilient supply chains

partner with buyers and retailers to drive the required market transformations that create more sustainable supply chains, and

Stronger enabling environment

work with governments and civil society actors to create a stronger enabling environment that facilitates enhanced water management.

Focus only on technical solutions

without considering broader market dynamics, supply chain structure, and the enabling environment that can make solutions sustainable and scalable over time.

Lack of market incentives for producers

to take action without sufficient involvement from key supply chain actors, such as retailers, importers, and exporters.

Limited focus on multi-stakeholder governance

needed to sustain initiatives in the longer term.

Data gaps and decision-making blind spots

due to limited visibility across enough producers, thus not tackling catchment-wide issues.

What is WAVE’s solution?

Water challenges cannot be solved without solutions at three interconnected levels – farm, supply and enabling environment.

We take a holistic catchment level approach, bringing in solutions at the farm, supply chain and enabling environment.

We develop market-based solutions to build a more conducive environment along the supply chain to invest in sustainability and water management.

We establish a critical mass of producers and downstream actors and implement strong governance to work more efficiently on effective solutions.

We engage with the public sector and civil society actors to strengthen the enabling environment, pool resources, improve collaboration, and drive resource efficiencies.

1. Scope

Define the situation, stakeholders, data, and risks to define the mission and align key actors on priorities.

2. Strategize

Develop solutions, define strategy, clarify services and value, and form a global-local partnership structure.

3. Implement

Plan detailed actions, set governance, secure financing, and establish monitoring for implementation and learning.

4. Evaluate & Restrategize

Assess outcomes, gather insights, refine strategy, and prepare for the next cycle

Producer of fresh fruits & vegetables

Exporters & processors

Importers

Retailers & wholesalers

Local communities

Industry & producer associations

Certifying bodies & NGOs

Governmental Institutions

Knowledge institutions

Financial institutions

July 25, 2025

The WAVE Partnership kicks off, bringing the Chilean Aconcagua catchment back in balance.

Between 4 and 11 July, the WAVE Partnership held a series of in-person workshops and events in the Aconcagua Valley in Chile, kicking off its three-year strategy for bringing the catchment back into balance. Key actors – farmers, buyers, and government representatives – convened to help advance the Partnership’s goal.

April 22, 2025

Webinar on Collective Action for Water-Biodiversity

Water scarcity and biodiversity loss pose significant threats to global agricultural supply chains. Tackling these challenges requires a collective action approach, bringing together farmers, buyers, governments, and international stakeholders to implement scalable solutions. This approach was discussed in a webinar on April 22, 2025.

Watch the webinar here

October 15, 2024

Nature’s Pride activates the fresh produce value chain for responsible water use

For Nature’s Pride and its sister company Berries Pride, responsible water use is of critical strategic importance. Coen van Iwaarden, Senior Advisor on Sustainable Business, explains how they address water challenges in collaboration with their dedicated growers and clients.

WAVE Partnership:
Collective Action for Water & Biodiversity

What is the WAVE Partnership?