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The UN has starkly warned that lakes, rivers, and aquifers are deteriorating in nearly half of the world's nations, threatening the health and livelihoods of billions.
The decline in clean freshwater availability is a growing concern in almost half of the globe, endangering ecosystems, economies, and the well-being of billions. According to the United Nations, projections show a worsening trend throughout this decade.
In a comprehensive new report, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) delivers its most detailed analysis yet of global freshwater ecosystems—rivers, lakes, and aquifers—issuing a grave warning that the world is alarmingly off course in meeting the 2030 targets for clean water and sanitation.
The report stresses the critical role of healthy freshwater ecosystems in ensuring water and food security, mitigating climate impacts, and preserving biodiversity. However, it also highlights the severe ongoing degradation of these vital systems across the globe, driven by pollution, dam construction, land conversion, over-extraction, and the intensifying effects of climate change, which are causing more frequent floods and droughts.
The situation is particularly dire in around 90 countries, most of which are in Africa and Central and Southeast Asia, where at least one type of freshwater ecosystem is under threat.
Alarming statistics reveal that river flows have diminished in 402 basins worldwide—a five-fold increase since 2000—while surface water bodies are shrinking or disappearing in 354 basins. Concurrently, natural water sources are becoming more polluted, and efforts to manage water resources are undermined by "ineffective" financial support from governments and the private sector.
As a consequence, freshwater species populations have plummeted by 83% since 1970. Approximately two billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and nearly half the world's population faces severe water scarcity for at least part of the year.
Looking ahead, the report warns that climate change and global population growth are poised to intensify water-related risks. Data suggest that by 2030, the health and livelihoods of 4.8 billion people could be in jeopardy if water quality and monitoring do not see significant improvement.
Additionally, the report sheds light on the plight of mangroves—crucial for water filtration, habitat provision, and carbon sequestration—that are being lost at alarming rates in Southeast Asia despite a global slowdown in the overall rate of mangrove deforestation over the past decade.
"Our blue planet is being rapidly deprived of healthy freshwater bodies and resources, with dire prospects for food security, climate change and biodiversity," said Dianna Kopansky, head of the freshwater and wetlands unit within the ecosystems division at UNEP.
These warnings emerge despite a series of commitments by governments worldwide to enhance freshwater quality and accessibility. Among the most significant pledges are the commitments to the sixth UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6), which aims to secure clean and sustainable water and sanitation for all by 2030, as well as over 800 water-related commitments secured at the UN Water Conference last year. Additionally, 45 countries and the EU have joined forces in the Freshwater Challenge, an ambitious initiative to restore 300,000 kilometers of degraded rivers and 350 million hectares of degraded wetlands by 2030.
Kopansky acknowledged these global commitments to improving freshwater resources, emphasizing that it is indeed possible to halt and reverse the alarming degradation afflicting key ecosystems. However, she underscored the urgent need for significantly greater financial backing from both governments and businesses if these ambitious goals are to be realized.
"At this critical point, global political commitments for sustainable water management have never been higher, including through the passing of a water resolution at the last UN Environment Assembly in February, but they are not being matched by required finance or action," she said. "Protection and restoration policies, tailored for different regions, are halting further loss and show that reversing degradation is within reach. We absolutely need more of them."
The report also underscores the stark inequality in freshwater availability worldwide, with developed nations enjoying far more reliable access to clean water than those in the Global South.
In contrast to the water-scarce regions of Africa and parts of Asia, countries in North America, Europe, and other parts of Asia are seeing a net gain in water storage capacity and clean water supplies, thanks in part to the construction of reservoirs. However, despite these advances, UNEP warns that sustainable water management on a global scale may not be realized until 2049 if current trends persist. This delay would leave at least 3.3 billion people in over 100 countries with inadequate frameworks to balance competing water demands by 2030.
In light of these challenges, the report urges governments to expand and enhance water monitoring programs, leverage citizen science initiatives, and explore the potential of satellite-based Earth observation technologies. These efforts could fill critical data gaps and drive targeted actions to improve water quality and availability worldwide.
UNEP executive director Inger Andersen said, "We still need to fill critical gaps. When we show that integrated water management bolsters other development objectives, we can secure political will, adequate resources, and real progress on SDG 6."
The report came in the same week as a separate UN study warning that global sea levels continue to rise as the climate warms. The UN said the global average sea levels have been growing at unprecedented rates in the past 3,000 years, and seas have absorbed more than 90 per cent of global heating in the past five decades.
Water expands when it gets hotter, and melting glaciers and ice sheets have added to the oceans' volume. This has resulted in rising sea levels that threaten coastal communities, low-lying regions, and small island nations.
The report cites emerging science that indicates that a 2C rise in global temperatures above pre-industrial times could potentially lead to the collapse of both the Greenland and West Antarctica ice sheets, essentially "condemning future generations to unstoppable sea level rise of up to 20 metres—over a period of a millennia."
Commenting on the findings, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a clarion call for governments worldwide to "save our seas" by drastically slashing greenhouse gas emissions, rapidly phasing our fossil fuels, and boosting investments in climate adaptation efforts.
"This is a crazy situation: rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity's making," he warned. "A crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no lifeboat to take us back to safety.
"But if we save the Pacific, we also save ourselves. The world must act and answer the SOS before it is too late."
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