One of the projects organized by the GNF and the Fundación
Humedales with the support of Kärcher
green filter built in Colombia.
Photo: © Fundación Humedales/GNF
In 2012, the environmental foundation Global Nature Fund (GNF) and cleaning equipment manufacturer Kärcher launched the “Clean Water for the World” program
The program focuses on environmental protection, wastewater treatment and drinking water projects and has improved the livelihoods of thousands of people in countries of the Global South
All projects use efficient, nature-based processes: so-called “nature-based solutions”
Radolfzell/Winnenden, 22.09.2022: This is the tenth anniversary of the start of a very special partnership: In 2012, Udo Gattenlöhner, Managing Director of the international environmental foundation Global Nature Fund (GNF), and Hartmut Jenner, Chairman of the Management Board of Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG, signed the cooperation agreement for the “Clean Water for the World” initiative. The goal: to work together to provide people around the world with safe access to clean water. In projects in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the construction of 17 green filter and 14 drinking water plants has since directly or indirectly improved the sanitary situation of around 450,000 people and enabled them to be supplied with clean water.
GNF Managing Director Udo Gattenlöhner remembers the beginning of the cooperation:
“The aim of the long-term collaboration with Kärcher was to build cost-effective, innovative constructed wetlands in developing and emerging countries. It was a good decision to focus on countries in South America in the first phase. The fact that we were then also able to convince the German government to provide additional funding for the construction of constructed wetlands in Latin America via the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) was a huge boost for the Clean Water for the World campaign.”
The solutions lie in nature
Kärcher CEO Hartmut Jenner says about the tenth anniversary of “Clean Water for the World” and the cooperation with the GNF: “Our cooperation has been characterized by great mutual trust since the beginning. Together, we have managed to preserve the ecological and biological diversity in numerous rivers and lakes around the world and give many people access to clean drinking water.”
“Over the past ten years, Clean Water for the World has used various strategies to improve the livelihoods of people living in the Global South. Whether with green filters, i.e. constructed wetlands co-developed by GNF, rainwater treatment, well drilling or the installation of pumps: the intention of the joint efforts is always to come up with sustainable, affordable and efficient solutions for the local people so that they can benefit from what is already there – i.e. “nature-based solutions”.
The “Clean Water for the World” projects at a glance
- Green filters in four Latin American countries, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Nicaragua
- Clean Water for the World – Green filters for wastewater treatment, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, South Africa
- Green filter in Burundi
- Drinking water project in Gitaza, Burundi
- Drinking water in rural Colombia
- Wastewater treatment plant operation with solar power in the Jordan Valley, Jordan
- Drinking water in Côte d’Ivoire
- Rainwater treatment for a school in the community of Gisozi, Burundi
- Drinking water supply in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh
- Better education through hygiene and drinking water supply, Burundi