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Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news that impacts science and scientists today.
Humanity has overspent and depleted freshwater in the world’s aquifers, glaciers, wetlands, and other natural reservoirs to an irreversible degree, according to a new United Nations report.
The report, published by United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health, argues that “water bankruptcy” is the only appropriate way to describe the reality of Earth’s water resources.
The authors define water bankruptcy as a state of irreversible damage to human-water systems in which long-term water use has exceeded renewable inflows and safe depletion limits. “Water crisis,” which indicates a reversible condition, is no longer an accurate description of the world’s water situation, they write: “What appears on the surface as a crisis is, in fact, a new baseline.”
Water stress, water crisis, and water bankruptcy all refer to different states of concern in water-human systems. Credit:
United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health
“Many critical water systems are already bankrupt,” lead author Kaveh Madani, director of UNU-INWEH, said in a statement.“Enough critical systems around the world have crossed these thresholds. These systems are interconnected through trade, migration, climate feedbacks, and geopolitical dependencies, so the global risk landscape is now fundamentally altered.”
This water bankruptcy is particularly evident in the Middle East and North Africa, where climate vulnerability, decreasing agricultural productivity, and sand and dust storms also threaten livelihoods and economies, the report states.
Widespread groundwater depletion, water overallocation, land and soil degradation, deforestation, and pollution are all contributing to depleted freshwater stores. Climate change has exacerbated these issues by worsening droughts and upending typical weather patterns.
The authors write that 70% of major aquifers worldwide are showing long-term decline, 75% of humanity lives in a water-insecure or critically water-insecure country, and 4 billion people face severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.
Overall water risk, reflecting the value of physical water quantity, water quality, and regulatory and reputational risks, is greatest in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Credit:
United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health
“Millions of farmers are trying to grow more food from shrinking, polluted, or disappearing water sources,” Madani said. “Without rapid transitions toward water-smart agriculture, water bankruptcy will spread rapidly.”
Related
• Read the Report: Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era
• The World is in Water Bankruptcy, UN Scientists Report—Here’s What That Means
• The World Has Entered a New Era of ‘Water Bankruptcy,’ U.N. Report Says
Though water bankruptcy is irreversible, the report spells out possible ways to mitigate the crisis and protect against worsening water deficits, including implementing better wetland protections, reforming irrigation practices, and rebalancing water rights and expectations to match the degraded capacity of the world’s aquifers.
The report is intended to inform discussions at the 2026 UN Water Conference in the United Arab Emirates in December.
—Grace van Deelen (@gvd.bsky.social), Staff Writer
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