Polski
Business and economics, Issue 2/2026
Global water bankruptcy – a new era in Earth’s history
Feb
Global freshwater resources are continually shrinking while demand continues to grow. This situation, referred to as water bankruptcy, could lead to irreversible consequences and requires integrated and long-term action based on current and projected hydrological realities, United Nations University researchers postulate.
Five-twelfths report
The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) published a landmark report in January 2026, following the title Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era. As the authors write, the timing of the publication is crucial – water risks are increasingly seriously threatening the implementation of Agenda 2030, and the completion of the International Decade of Action Water for Sustainable Development in 2028 represents an opportunity to raise the profile of water issues to the level of a global priority.
The era of water bankruptcy, according to experts at UNU-INWEH, is a reality. Many catchments and aquifers are seeing the safe limits of exploitation exceeded – the level of water abstraction is much higher than the tributaries. Lakes, wetlands, rivers and glaciers have been degraded, and many of these resources can no longer be restored….
There was a crisis, there is water bankruptcy
Data presented in the report shows that some 2.2 billion people worldwide lack access to safely managed drinking water, and 4 billion experience a shortage for at least 1 month a year. Up to 75 percent of the world’s population lives in regions at risk of water scarcity. Given the gigantic scale of the problem, one can’t help thinking that the phrase water crisis , which signals the temporary nature of the phenomenon, is no longer adequate. Hence, the report’s authors suggest a more apt term: water bankruptcy.
The calculus of losses in terms of freshwater resources is catastrophic. More than half of the world’s largest lakes have been shrinking since 1990, and many major rivers no longer drain into the sea. Over the past 50 years, we have lost 410 million hectares of natural wetlands, costing the Earth $5.1 trillion in terms of ecosystem services.
About 70 percent of aquifers show clear signs of shrinkage, and their overexploitation has led to land subsidence over an area of more than 6 million square kilometers. In some locations, the ground surface is subsiding by as much as 25 cm per year, permanently reducing the retention capacity of the ground and increasing the risk of flooding. Since the 1970s. Last century, we also lost more than 30 percent of the glacial mass, which directly threatens the water security of hundreds of millions of people.
Water demand continues to grow
Water bankruptcy is also fueled by the demand side, which is dominated by agriculture, responsible for about 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals. Yet 3 billion people live in areas where scarcity already threatens food production. The risk in this regard is compounded by agricultural soil degradation, which already affects more than half of all farmland.
Damage from repeated droughts generates losses of $307 billion a year – more than the annual GDP of 75 percent of UN member countries. Meanwhile, the water we have available to us is of increasingly poor quality due to inadequately treated municipal wastewater and waste water from industry, mining and agricultural runoff.
According to the report’s authors, current programs, focused mainly on improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), are already inadequate. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) plans are also failing to meet expectations. Progressive water bankruptcy is beginning to threaten socioeconomic stability and is becoming a hotbed of international conflict.
Water management in the post-crisis era
Water bankruptcy is imposing on the world the need for a fundamental change in the way this precious resource is managed. According to experts at UNU-INWEH, we need to focus on developing new systems that work within permanent hydrological constraints, rather than resolving the crisis and restoring normalcy. How to do this? The report’s authors suggest:
- transparent communication about limitations and losses;
- Making the prevention of further irreversible damage an absolute priority;
- Aligning claims and expectations with degraded environmental capacity;
- Protecting the most vulnerable groups, such as small farmers, rural communities, women and girls;
- Development of institutions capable of continuous adaptation, rather than implementing one-off solutions.
A very important element of management in an era of water bankruptcy is modulating demand for water. On the one hand, it involves identifying and protecting non-negotiable minima, such as access to acceptable quantity and quality of safe drinking water or support for basic food production. On the other, the need for thorough reform of the agricultural sector, particularly in the context of unrealistic perceptions of water supply.
The report’s authors also stress the crucial importance of decoupling economic growth from resource consumption. It involves the need to diversify the economy, particularly away from water-intensive primary production to knowledge-based sectors and low-water footprint manufacturing. Decisions on the location of new industrial plants should be based on hydrological conditions, and some existing plants may need to be relocated.
The world needs a new water agenda
As pessimistic as the diagnosis of water bankruptcy sounds, UNU-INWEH researchers argue that it can and should be a catalyst for cooperation between North and South. Paradoxically, it is the water deficit that is the common starting point that has the potential to unite a divided world, fostering peace talks and international solidarity.
Global water bankruptcy is not the sum of local crises, but a systemic problem that requires a transnational approach. The report’s authors suggest creating a global monitoring system for total freshwater resources, the extent of groundwater depletion, the disappearance of glaciers and wetlands, and water quality degradation. The data obtained will be used to identify the current status and tipping points, and above all for adaptation and mitigation measures.
The UN Water Conferences planned for 2026 and 2028 should be an opportunity to adopt a new water agenda that responds to the hydrological realities of the Anthropocene. Governments around the world must learn to recognize water-bankrupt regions and sectors and begin to design appropriate transition pathways that are both hydrologically credible and socio-politically viable.
In writing the article, I used:
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. DOI: 10.53328/INR26KAM001
