Model and Strategy
Founded in 1987, the Pacific Institute is a global research and policy nonprofit organization whose mission is to create and advance solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges. The Institute promotes uptake of science-based solutions through policy engagement, technical insight and direction, and collaborative partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), frontline communities, Fortune 500 companies, and the United Nations. It also builds networks that cross pollinate innovative ideas and practices across different regions and stakeholder groups.
In response to the mounting climate crisis, the Pacific Institute adopted a long-term organizational goal to catalyze the transformation to water resilience in the face of climate change by 2030. Its immediate priority over the next two years is to dramatically scale water equity and resilience strategies in the Western United States. Their strategy centers around three key areas:
- Water Efficiency and Reuse. Water efficiency and reuse are powerful, albeit still underutilized, strategies for enhancing water sustainability and resilience. They reduce water withdrawals from over-tapped ecosystems and vulnerability to droughts, while saving energy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The Pacific Institute is at the forefront of assessing water efficiency and reuse potential in the Western U.S and promoting uptake of these strategies through robust outreach and policy engagement.
- Nature-Based Solutions. Nature-based solutions help restore, manage, and protect water resources while also increasing biodiversity and providing additional social and economic benefits. The Pacific Institute is developing decision-support tools to catalyze investments in nature-based solutions and connect stakeholders with shared interests around those strategies.
- Water Equity. Frontline communities, including rural communities, low-income communities, and communities of color, are impacted first and worst by water insecurity and climate change. Through collaborative research and partnerships, the Pacific Institute is examining the effects of climate change on small and medium-sized water and sanitation systems in frontline communities and advancing climate-resilient strategies to address the humanitarian water crisis in the context of climate change.
Impact
For more than 35 years, the Pacific Institute has played a lead role in analyzing and communicating the connections between water, energy, and climate change in the Western United States and beyond. It has built the evidence base for sensible water policies through research, pilots, and technical analysis, and persuaded decisionmakers to adopt innovative solutions.
The Institute has produced dozens of ground-breaking reports, along with hundreds of technical assessments, decision-support tools, and policy recommendations for NGOs and decisionmakers across sectors. These resources, which are freely available on the Institute's website, have been downloaded nearly 9 million times and referenced hundreds of times in legislation, regulation, and practices. The Institute is also a reliable and credible resource for the media, conducting hundreds of interviews each year in major media outlets.
Pacific Institute experts regularly testify before the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, state and regional water boards, and United Nations entities, and are featured at key national and global water events, including the US Water Alliances’ One Water Summit, Colorado River Water Users Association annual conference, World Water Week, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, and the historic UN Water Conference in New York. The Institute was instrumental in forming the California Water Action Collaborative, which includes 19 cross-sector companies and 11 NGOs that have invested more than US$4 million in collective action projects to improve water security and is expanding efforts to mobilize the business community across the entire Colorado River Basin.
Leadership
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Jason Morrison
President
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Heather Cooley
Director of Research