African countries face some of the highest water risk in the world, now exacerbated by climate change. But management and investment are often bigger challenges. Tackling them can strengthen economies and build countries' resilience to climate change.
This paper provides a methodology to calculate and valuate the benefits of water stewardship activities. This new method enables businesses and other key stakeholders to better tackle shared water risks at catchment-scale.
New data on WRI's Aqueduct platform ranks the world's countries from least to most water-stressed.
This paper discusses updates to the Aqueduct™ 3.0 water risk framework, that is used, among other things, as underlying database for the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas and Country Rankings.
Chennai's four main reservoirs are virtually dry. This crisis is not only due to last year's poor monsoon season—lack of proper management is driving the city's water security problems.
While the average person drinks 2 to 4 liters of water a day, it requires an astonishing 2,000 to 5,000 liters of water to produce the food that the average person eats each day! Here are five ways companies, farmers and consumers can lessen the food system’s impact on water.
Water crises can shake societies, destroy livelihoods and threaten prosperity for decades. They can also be the spark that sets aflame a powder keg of social and political issues, resulting in violent conflict.
This paper reviews the key drivers behind growing water risk, describes and illustrates water and security pathways, and presents approaches for reducing water related risks to global security.
From the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in Turkey to the desert wadis on the southern tip of Yemen, the history of water conflicts provides a cautionary tale: When water and politics mix, freshwater can become both a weapon and a threat to national security.
Power from solar and wind requires zero or little water, unlike coal, gas and other forms of thermal power. Renewable energy can therefore be particularly attractive to water-stressed countries looking to meet their increasing electricity demands without producing emissions.
While more than one-third of China still suffers from high water stress, there are signs of improvement: New WRI analysis shows that the rate of increase in the country's water withdrawals has slowed from 5.1 billion cubic meters per year in 2001-2010 to 1.6 billion cubic meters per year from 2010-2015.
Cape Town, South Africa has been in the news for its impending "Day Zero," when the city will shut off taps and start rationing water, but its reservoirs aren't the only ones shrinking. Satellite images reveal dwindling water supplies in Morocco, India, Iraq and Spain.
Many people point to renewable energy as the greatest threat facing fossil fuel power plants. New WRI research finds that the real threat may be water scarcity.
This methodology documents an approach to crowdsourcing information on public water management via companies, in order to create a global database of local data.
Cape Town, South Africa is poised to shut off water taps for homes and businesses in the next few months. Is the next "Day Zero" coming to a city near you?
Toxic air pollution. Plastic-filled oceans. Sucking carbon from the skies. These are just a few of the stories that will shape 2018's legacy.
This paper aims to uncover water risks to India’s thermal power sector.
Fourteen of India’s 20 largest thermal utilities experienced at least one shutdown due to water shortages between 2013-2016, at a cost of $1.4 billion. It's a taste of what's to come in a warmer, more crowded world.
Power plants use a lot of water for cooling, but most don't disclose how much. A new WRI methodology calculates their thirst by using Google Earth images.
Thermal power plants depend on and consume water for cooling. Detailed power sector water-use data can help aid in evaluating the security of water access for power plants as well the impact of their water use on downstream water users.