UNU-INWEH report on ‘Global Water Bankruptcy’
The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) has released a new flagship report, “Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era”, examining the condition of global water systems.
The report analyses the sustained ‘overdraft’ of water systems through the overuse of renewable flows and long-term natural storage beyond safe limits. It finds that many river basins and aquifers have entered a post-crisis condition, in which historical baselines are no longer attainable without transformative change.
Against a backdrop of chronic groundwater depletion, water overallocation, land and soil degradation, deforestation and pollution — all compounded by climate change — the report concludes that many regions are living beyond their hydrological means and that numerous critical water systems are already effectively ‘bankrupt’. It calls for science-based adaptation to a new hydrological reality.
The report urges governments and the United Nations system to use the 2026 and 2028 UN Water Conferences, the end of the Water Action Decade in 2028, and the 2030 SDG deadline to reset the global water agenda to position water as a bridge for peace, climate action, biodiversity protection and food security.
- „GLOBAL WATER BANKRUPTCY“ – Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era (pdf)
- Explore the report here.
- “World Enters “Era of Global Water Bankruptcy” UN Scientists Formally Define New Post-Crisis Reality for Billions” – Flagship report calls for fundamental reset of global water agenda as irreversible damage pushes many basins beyond recovery.
