Simon Topfer, Adviser at Beyond, took part in the World Water Week in Stockholm in August 2025.
Here are a few of his reflections from the conference:
Interactive formats: There was a range of practical sessions that included open brainstorming and breakout sessions, feedback sessions on existing features and the drawing up of action plans. I feel large business and human rights conferences would hugely benefit from including more such events.
Silos, again: This is a challenge between water and human rights (and even water management and WASH as I learned), which is frustrating to see. It would be beneficial for BHR folks to attend conferences related to but outside of our bubble. Equally, I’d encourage the water people to join some of ours – it could finally enable the synergies we love to buzzword.
CWS & HREDD: There’s a lot of great work in corporate water stewardship that is highly relevant to HREDD and I’m happy to have found so much interest in linking water with BHR approaches – I’m looking forward to build on that in the next weeks.