Report - Global Water Bankruptcy: A New Era Beyond Crisis : Shared by Niloufar Pourzand

 

Global Water Bankruptcy: A New Era Beyond Crisis

Author: United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH)

Publication: UNU-INWEH Report

Date: 2025

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Summary:

The report declares that the world has entered an era of "Global Water Bankruptcy"—a post-crisis state fundamentally different from the familiar concepts of water stress or water crisis. The report argues that in many regions, decades of excessive water withdrawal have depleted not just renewable flows but also stored reserves in aquifers, glaciers, soils, wetlands, and rivers, causing irreversible or effectively irreversible damage.

The report introduces "water bankruptcy" as a distinct condition requiring fundamentally different management approaches. Unlike crisis management, which aims to restore previous conditions, bankruptcy management acknowledges irreversibility and focuses on preventing further damage while adapting to new hydrological realities. The report emphasizes this is simultaneously a justice, security, and political economy challenge requiring equity-oriented solutions.

UNU-INWEH argues that current global water agendas—focused primarily on WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), incremental efficiency gains, and generic IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management)—are insufficient for addressing structural overshoot and irreversibility. 

Quotes:

"The world has entered the era of Global Water Bankruptcy. In many regions, human–water systems are already in a post-crisis state of failure."

"In finance, declaring bankruptcy is the precondition for a fresh, more sustainable start: debts are recognized, claims are written down, and a new balance sheet is constructed to prevent further collapse. In the same way, managing water bankruptcy calls for a transformational fresh start in human–water relations."