Overview
- Released Jan. 20 by the UN University’s water institute, the report cites stark trends including more than 50% of large lakes losing water since the 1990s, about 70% of major aquifers in decline, roughly 410 million hectares of wetlands lost, around 30% glacier mass loss since 1970, and nearly 4 billion people facing severe scarcity at least one month a year.
- It defines water bankruptcy as persistent over‑withdrawal beyond renewable inflows and safe depletion limits that leads to irreversible or prohibitively costly loss of water-related natural capital.
- Identified hot spots include the Middle East and North Africa, parts of South Asia, and the U.S. Southwest, with examples such as Kabul’s precarious supplies, Mexico City’s subsidence from overpumping, and the over-allocated Colorado River.
- The human and economic toll is mounting, with nearly three-quarters of people living in water‑insecure countries, annual damages estimated at about $300 billion, and billions plus a large share of global food production concentrated in regions with unstable or declining water storage.
- Recommendations call for transforming agriculture, better monitoring using AI and remote sensing, pollution controls, and stronger protection of wetlands and groundwater, as the findings feed into a UN water meeting in Dakar next week and some scientists caution against a blanket global label.