ASTANA – The United Nations University (UNU) released an article on Jan. 20 about the dawn of an era of global water bankruptcy, formally defining a new post-crisis reality for billions.
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Amid chronic groundwater depletion, water overallocation, land and soil degradation, deforestation, and pollution, all compounded by global heating, a UN report declared that many regions are living beyond their hydrological means, with critical water systems already bankrupt.
The report, Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era, argues that familiar terms such as “water stressed” or “water crisis” no longer reflect reality in many places. Expressed in financial terms, societies have not only overspent their annual renewable water “income” but also depleted long-term “savings” in aquifers, glaciers, wetlands, and other natural reservoirs.
The UNU report emphasizes that water bankruptcy is a global problem because interconnected systems affect trade, migration, climate feedbacks, and geopolitical stability. Millions of farmers are attempting to grow food from shrinking, polluted, or disappearing water sources, risking further spread of water bankruptcy.
The report calls for a fundamental reset of the global water agenda, highlighting the need to prevent irreversible damage, rebalance rights and claims to match degraded capacity, support just transitions, transform water-intensive sectors, and build adaptive institutions with continuous monitoring. Water bankruptcy is not only a hydrological problem but also a social justice concern, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations.
Lead author Kaveh Madani, director of the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), known as The UN’s Think Tank on Water, stressed that declaring bankruptcy is not giving up, but starting fresh.
“By acknowledging the reality of water bankruptcy, we can finally make the hard choices that will protect people, economies, and ecosystems. The longer we delay, the deeper the deficit grows,” he said.
The report is published prior to a high-level meeting in Dakar, Senegal (Jan. 26-27) to prepare the 2026 UN Water Conference, to be co-hosted by the United Arab Emirates and Senegal on Dec. 2-4 in the UAE.
In related regional initiatives, the Regional Ecological Summit (RES) 2026 will take place in Astana on April 22-24, bringing together around 1,500 participants. The summit seeks to address climate and environmental challenges in Central Asia in partnership with the UN, focusing on key areas such as water resource management, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and environmental resilience. RES 2026 will serve as a permanent platform for regional cooperation, with expected outcomes including a joint declaration by Central Asian Heads of State, a Regional Program of Action for sustainable development, and the launch of new environmental projects.
