1423. The World Enters an "Era of Water Bankruptcy"

With chronic groundwater depletion, water overallocation, land and soil degradation, deforestation, and pollution exacerbated by global warming, a UN report has declared the dawn of an "Era of Global Water Bankruptcy" and called for a fundamental review of global water resource management plans. The report states that today's reality in many regions is characterized by the irreversible loss of natural water capital and the inability to return to historical baseline levels, and that familiar terms like "water stress" and "water crisis" cannot capture it. From an economic perspective, many societies are not only overspending their annual renewable water "revenues" from rivers, soils, and snowpack, but also depleting long-term "reserves" in aquifers, glaciers, wetlands, and other natural reservoirs. The results are increased compaction of aquifers, subsidence of deltas and coastal cities, loss of lakes and wetlands, and irreversible biodiversity loss.

Based on a peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of Water Resources Management, the report formally defines "water bankruptcy" as:

• Sustained excessive withdrawal of water from surface and groundwater sources relative to renewable inflows and safe depletion levels, and
• The resulting irreversible or prohibitively costly loss of water-related natural capital.

While not all river basins or countries are experiencing water stress, a significant number of critical water systems around the world are exceeding these limits. These systems are interconnected through trade, migration, climate feedbacks, and geopolitical dependencies, and the global risk landscape is now fundamentally altered.

The report also presents some sobering statistics on the state and trends of water resources. Here are some highlights:

• 50%: Percentage of the world's lakes that have experienced a decline in water volume since the early 1990s (25% of humanity depends on these lakes for livelihoods)
• 50%: Percentage of domestic water supplies globally that are groundwater-dependent
• 40%+: Percentage of irrigation water supplies that rely on constantly withdrawn aquifers
• 70%: Percentage of major aquifers experiencing a long-term decline
• 410 million hectares: Area of natural wetlands lost over the past 50 years (an area roughly equivalent to the entire European Union)
• 30%+: Percentage of global glaciers lost since 1970. Within decades, entire low- and mid-latitude mountain ranges are expected to lose functioning glaciers.
• 100 million hectares: Salt-affected agricultural land
• 170 million hectares: Irrigated agricultural land under high or very high water stress (equivalent to the combined area of France, Spain, Germany, and Italy)
• 3 billion: People living in areas with reduced or unstable water reserves. More than 50% of the world's food is produced in these stressed areas
• 1.8 billion: People living under drought conditions in 2022-2023
• US$307 billion: Annual global losses due to drought

Water insolvency is not simply a hydrological problem; it has serious social and political implications. The report emphasizes that although delaying action will worsen the water crisis, acknowledging the reality of water insolvency will allow governments and multilateral cooperation to make the right choices to protect people, economies, and ecosystems.

(Reference)
UNU-INWEH Report: Madani, K. (2026). Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era. United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. https://unu.edu/inweh/collection/global-water-bankruptcy

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki, Information Program