US EditionEra of ‘global water bankruptcy’ is here, UN report says
- On Jan 20, the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health released a report declaring the world has entered an era of Global Water Bankruptcy, framing it as irreversible failure.
- Decades of unsustainable use have left many water systems permanently failing due to overextraction, pollution, land degradation, and climate stress, with groundwater treated as an unlimited safety net causing aquifer compaction and land subsidence.
- The report finds that four billion people face severe water scarcity, while 2.2 billion lack safely managed drinking water and 3.5 billion lack sanitation, with groundwater declining in over 70% of aquifers.
- UN officials caution that water bankruptcy risks fragility, displacement, and conflict, urging 'bankruptcy management' and using the UN Water Conferences in 2026 and 2028 for just transitions benefiting farmers, vulnerable communities and Indigenous peoples.
- Longer term, the report notes that glacier mass decline of more than 30% since 1970 threatens water storage in Asia and the Andes, while wetlands and ecosystem service valuation exceed US$5.1 trillion.
54 Articles
54 Articles
The world has entered a "global water failure" era, warns the United Nations, in a report showing that resources are exploding faster than can be re-generated by nature, on the basis of overexploitation, pollution and change...
The UN warned that the world is in "an era of global water bankruptcy" in which there has already been an irreversible loss of resources
The UN report: the use and pollution of water sources have surpassed the possibilities of renewal and can no longer be brought back to the previous levels. Alessi (Wwf): "It takes a change of paradigm"
Observador
Correio da ManhãThe UN report argues that the term "water crisis" no longer reflects the current reality in many places, where "reversible damage has led to a point of non-recovery".
GMA Filipino News
Insider PaperUN report declares global state of 'water bankruptcy'
The world is entering an era of "global water bankruptcy" with rivers, lakes and aquifers depleting faster than nature can replenish them, a United Nations research institute said on Tuesday.
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