SEATTLE, U.S. – The Manos al Agua Project, implemented by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) as part of a public-private partnership, was granted the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Sustainability Award 2018, the most important of its kind in the coffee world, thanks to the results achieved in the category of Sustainable Projects.
The Manos al Agua Project will be presented at a session of the Specialty Coffee Symposium, RE:CO, which brings together all sustainability and coffee experts in the world, to be held together with the SCA Specialty Coffee Expo in Seattle, USA, this month.
This award was achieved thanks to the importance of Manos al Agua as innovative intervention project towards coffee river basins management with an emphasis on integrated water resources management, a replicable model for sustainable rural development in Colombia.
The SCA Sustainability Award is granted since 2004 to companies and organizations that create and implement innovative projects or business models to expand and promote coffee sustainability in the world, while inspiring others to start similar initiatives.
“We receive this recognition on behalf of the Colombian coffee growers at a turning point. We are concluding the project, which lasted five years, and it confirms that Manos al Agua is a holistic project, one of the most successful of the Colombian coffee institutions, with great results for the benefit of coffee growers’ profitability,” said Roberto Vélez, the FNC CEO, at the awarding ceremony.
About Manos al Agua
Manos al Agua is a public-private partnership, made up of the FNC, the Dutch Cooperation Agency, the private companies Nestlé & Nespresso; the Colombian Coffee Research Center (Cenicafé) and the Wageningen University (as scientific-academic partners), and the Colombian government through the Presidential Agency of International Cooperation (APC-Colombia), for implementation of an Integrated Water Resources Management System towards a climatically intelligent coffee farming in Colombia.
Started in 2013, completing five years and focused on water resources management in coffee regions, Manos al Agua has achieved important sustainability results, including installation of ecological post-harvesting and wastewater treatment systems, among other actions.
About SCA
The Specialty Coffee Association is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that represents thousands of coffee professionals, from producers to baristas all over the world. It is a new organization formed by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE).
