For decades, the world has been warned of a looming water crisis. A landmark report released today at the United Nations Headquarters argues that the time for "crisis management" has passed. The report, Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era, is the outcome of an investigation led by Kaveh Madani , the renowned environmental scientist and Research Professor at The City College of New York's CUNY CREST Institute .
The study concludes that humanity has entered a state of "Global Water Bankruptcy"—a permanent, systemic failure where the natural capital needed for recovery has been liquidated.
The investigation reveals that nearly three-quarters of the world's population lives in countries classified as water-insecure. Unlike a "crisis," which implies a temporary shock, water bankruptcy represents a state of insolvency where long-term water use exceeds renewable inflows and safe depletion limits, causing irreversible damage to rivers, lakes, and aquifers.
Liquidating the Planet's Savings Accounts
The report uses financial terminology to describe a catastrophic environmental reality. By over-extracting surface and groundwater, and destroying ecosystems, humanity is no longer living off the "interest" of the water cycle but is instead consuming the "principal" or "capital."
"We can no longer treat water shortages as temporary emergencies," said Madani, who currently leads the United Nations University Institute of Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), known as the "UN's Think Tank on Water". "In finance, when you spend more than you earn for too long, you go bankrupt. We have done exactly that with our water 'checking' and 'savings' accounts. We are now living in a post-crisis reality where the old 'normal' can no longer be recovered. Acknowledging this bankruptcy is not an act of resignation; it is the essential first step toward a fresh, honest, and more sustainable start for our planet's future."
The liquidation is visible in the rapid decline of global water storage:
- Vanishing Glaciers: The world has lost more than 30% of its glacier mass since 1970, destroying the "water towers" that provide seasonal security for billions.
- Aquifer Collapse: Excessive groundwater extraction has caused land to sink (subsidence) over 5% of the global land area. In some regions, the ground is sinking by up to 25 centimeters per year, permanently crushing the geological structures that once held water.
- Loss of Infrastructure: Over the past 50 years, the world has lost roughly 410 million hectares of natural wetlands—an area nearly the size of the European Union. These natural filters and flood-protectors provided services valued at over US$5.1 trillion.
The Human and Economic Cost of Insolvency
Water bankruptcy is not an abstract environmental metric; it is a profound threat to global food security and economic stability. Roughly 70% of global freshwater withdrawals are for agriculture, and more than half of the world's food production is now located in areas where total water storage is either declining or critically unstable.
"Most governance systems around the world are currently rewarding short-term consumption while ignoring the mounting debt we are leaving for the next generation," Madani added. "When a country or a corporation goes bankrupt, there are legal frameworks to handle the fallout. In the case of water, we are seeing 'Anthropogenic Drought'—chronic man-made scarcity driven by greed and mismanagement—yet we still lack the global governance to manage this insolvency fairly. If this is not addressed, future generations will be paying the highest interest on a debt they did not create."
A Call for a Global Reset
The report calls for a fundamental reset of the global water agenda during the upcoming 2026 and 2028 UN Water Conferences. It urges governments to move from "crisis management"—which focuses on returning to a lost past—to "bankruptcy management," which emphasizes adaptation to new hydrological normals, protecting remaining natural capital, and ensuring water justice.
Key Statistics & Findings
The Human Reality:
- 75%: Percentage of the global population living in water-insecure or critically water-insecure countries;
- 4 Billion: People who experience severe water scarcity for at least one month per year; and
- 1 in 4: Number of people worldwide lacking access to safely managed drinking water.
The Hydrological Debt:
- 70%: Share of the world's major aquifers showing long-term declining trends due to over-extraction:
- 5%: Of global land area is experiencing land subsidence (sinking) due to groundwater depletion; and
- 30%: Loss of global glacier mass since 1970, representing a permanent loss of stored freshwater.
The Economic Impact:
- US$5.1 Trillion: Estimated cumulative value of ecosystem services lost due to the destruction of wetlands;
- US$307 Billion: Annual global cost of drought-related damages, largely driven by human-induced water stress; and
- 50%: Of global food production is currently at risk due to unstable or declining water storage.
About Kaveh Madani
