Why PepsiCo Aims to Repair Watersheds in Latin America?

PepsiCo announced a project to replenish the watersheds around five of Latin America’s biggest cities and most water-stressed regions.

Namely, Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia; and Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Watersheds act as sponges for rain, holding it for when needed in dry seasons, while a watershed’s trees absorb carbon from the air and provide habitat for animals.

They clean water and air, as part of the natural capital the earth provides. 

But they are being eroded, particularly in Latin America where the edges of tropical rain forests— the lungs of the world — are giving way to clear cutting for growing crops and building.

Water shortages and stresses are common in Guatemala City, Monterrey, Mexico City and elsewhere, a big problem for people and companies there.

But it is the year of the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals, when numerous large businesses and countries have agreed to work on, including SDG No. 6: "Ensure access to water and sanitation for all." 

PepsiCo on Tuesday is announcing a project to replenish the watersheds around five of Latin America’s biggest cities and most water-stressed regions: Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia; and Guatemala City, Guatemala.

The company's $3 million "Water for the Planet" project aims to restore 600,000 cubic meters of aquifer land — equivalent to what could hold 158 million gallons of water — and will be carried out in partnership with the Nature Conservancy (TNC). The two organizations predict this will take seven years. But it could provide proof of a nature-driven, low-cost way to restore water quality, abate floods and droughts and boost water security.

Laxman Narasimhan, CEO of PepsiCo Latin America, told GreenBiz, "What we are doing is focusing on water security in five (geographic) areas. These are clearly water-stressed areas."

They are also where PepsiCo has manufacturing operations and franchisees that run bottling operations. Guatemala City, for instance, is the company’s Central America hub.

"Replenishing watersheds will help everyone in the area." Narasimhan said. "It is our commitment to the local community. We are using water in these areas so we want to replenish as much of it as we can... Rather than withdrawing water in one community and replenishing it in another, we want to be responsible to the community."

It's not a new approach. "Watersheds are a very good example of how green infrastructure can replace or is better than gray infrastructure," said Mark Tercek, president of TNC, which has been working in Latin America to restore aquifers, watersheds and tree protection. For instance, building levees or cement walls to hold back floods would not provide relief from drought nor act as carbon sinks the way forests do.

"A project like this with PepsiCo is so important because ultimately we want to show the world there is an opportunity to invest in green infrastructure broadly," he said.

Source: Green Biz