THE COCA COLA COMPANY – WWF ALLIANCE
TO CONTRIBUTE TO FRESH WATER CONSERVATION IN THE MESOAMERICAN REEF SYSTEM ECOREGION

The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) and the World Wildlife Fund established a global alliance to contribute to fresh-water conservation in priority sites.

In Central America, the global alliance focused its work on the Mesoamerican Reef System (MBRS), an ecoregion that includes the Caribbean watersheds of four countries: Mexico (Yucatan Peninsula), Belize, Guatemala (Caribbean coast) and Honduras (Northern coast). This alliance had three lines of work: freshwater conservation, value chains, and valuing nature. Significant results have been achieved in these areas, which contribute to the conservation of the watersheds included in the Mesoamerican Reef System.

During the first phase of the alliance (2007 to 2012), the performance of Coca-Cola Company bottlers’ water consumption improved, and local communities joined watershed conservation and protection efforts by establishing agroforestry systems, which increase forest coverage in watersheds and improve the livelihoods of small producers. This first phase enabled coordination among various private-sector organizations, communities, municipal governments, and non-government organizations (NGOs) to promote the integrated and participatory management of MBRS watersheds.

The second phase of the TCCC-WWF Alliance began in 2013. It reasserted its commitment to continue working on integrated watershed management, establishing management and governance instruments, and improving the livelihoods of communities located in the Mesoamerican Reef System watersheds. This second phase was extended until 2021 with achievements that will endure over time and that can be the starting point to continue implementing conservation efforts aimed at benefitting water resources and communities.

This site highlights the main achievements of the Alliance. More than ultimate achievements, each of the actions described below should be conceived as a rung of a ladder that should continue to be climbed to keep up freshwater conservation in the Mesoamerican Reef System.

Water Reserves

WWF supports the Thematic Roundtable to Support Water Ecosystem Services in Guatemala, linked to Forests.

Water
Access Systems

In order to involve the communities around the hydrological basins where the work of the TCCC-WWF Alliance was implemented, water access projects (water distribution and purification systems) were established.

Watershed
Management Plans

Through the support of the TCCC-WWF Alliance and partner organizations, management plans and development and conservation projects were carried out within the priority watersheds as part of the scope of the Alliance in the Mesoamerican Reef System.

Stable Isotopes Study

Research to generate and analyze hydrological information, with an emphasis on stable isotopes (2H and 18O) can determine critical aquifer recharge sites.

Fire Prevention and Control

Forest fires represent a serious threat to the conservation of ecosystems, whose impact damages biodiversity, soil integrity, ecological integrity, and the ability to generate goods and services (...)

Agroforestry Systems

Agroforestry is the term used for land use systems and technologies in which planning is carried out to combine trees with agricultural crops (...)

Value chains

The value chain is the supply of inputs for a process. In the case of the Alliance TCCC-WWF sugar mills were identified as part of the value chain of different products to bottlers

Solid Waste

The inadequate management of solid wastes has a negative impact on freshwater bodies, coasts and marine areas of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System.

Cleaner Production

Around the watersheds of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System there are all kinds of companies. The production they carry out can have an impact on the quantity and quality of water in these watersheds.

Water Security Alliances

Alliances for water security are platforms where various actors come together to contribute to strengthening governance for the sustainable management of water resources

Sustainable Livelihoods

There are communities around the priority basins watersheds the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System that depend on ecosystems.

Education and Awareness

All the technical efforts and projects developed as part of the TCCC-WWF Alliance need the support of education activities and awareness-raising so that these actions transcend in the long term.