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by and - Flood risk in the Mississippi River Basin is expected to threaten $4.2 billion in GDP annually by 2030, an $831 million increase from 2010. Levees alone won't fix the problem — and may even worsen it.
water risk
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Aqueduct Floods, a new tool from World Resources Institute that measures water-related flood risks around the world, finds that by 2030, 15 million people and $177 billion in urban property will be impacted annually by coastal flooding, while 132 million people and $535 billion in urban property will be impacted annually due to riverine flooding. WRI also finds that investing in flood protection infrastructure now can significantly decrease the impact of floods later.
publication
by Samantha Kuzma, Peter Kerins, Liz Saccoccia, Cayla Whiteside, Hannes Roos and Charles Iceland - March 2020This paper discusses a methodology to forecast conflict up to a year in advance. The model is a product of the Water, Peace, and Security partnership, which is pioneering the development of public information tools and approaches that can support evidence-based actions to reduce security risks and promote water cooperation.
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by Colin Strong and Samantha Kuzma - January 21, 2020New WRI research shows how countries can achieve water security for all by 2030. The economic benefits of investing in sustainable water management far outweigh the costs.
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by Charles Iceland - December 05, 2019About 2,000 administrative districts across the Global South — about 14% of all surveyed — are at risk of violent conflict between October 2019 and September 2020.
publication
Financial Implications of Parched Power: Insights from an Analysis of Indian Thermal Power Companies
This paper provides quantitative evidence to help investors better understand and measure the financial impacts from water shortages in the thermal power sector, drawing on data and analysis of Indian companies. It introduces a new methodology to estimate the water shortage-induced impacts to earnings on five Indian thermal power companies from FY 2014-2017. It also uses outputs from climate models to analyze potential future changes to water availability in India, which could increase the risk of water shortages.
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by Nathaniel Mason, Denali Nalamalapu and Jan Corfee-Morlot - October 07, 2019African 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.
news item
New research finds millions have access only a few hours a day, while others are forced to pay up to a quarter of monthly household income for private provision.
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by Rutger Willem Hofste, Paul Reig and Leah Schleifer - August 06, 2019New data on WRI's Aqueduct platform ranks the world's countries from least to most water-stressed.
publication
by Rutger Willem Hofste, Samantha Kuzma, Sara Walker, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Marc F.P. Bierkens, Marijn J.M. Kuijper, Marta Faneca Sanchez, Rens Van Beek, Yoshihide Wada, Sandra Galvis Rodríguez and Paul Reig - August 2019This 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.
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by Sara Walker - March 04, 2019More than 700 coastal areas are affected by algal growth and dead zones, despite a growing number of global agreements to reduce water pollution.
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by Betsy Otto - January 28, 2019WRI Water Program Director Betsy Otto argues the world needs to make water security a top priority and outlines three key steps we can take, taking a global perspective with examples from the United States and Ethiopia.
project
Advancing sustainable water management in the private sector by driving innovation in water-related data, tools and strategies.
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by Manish Bapna, Kitty van der Heijden, Susanne Schmeier and Charles Iceland - November 05, 2018Water 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.
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by Peter Gleick and Charles Iceland - August 27, 2018From 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.
publication
by Peter Gleick and Charles Iceland - August 2018This 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.
news item
Building on decades of work across the continent, World Resources Institute inaugurated a new regional office, WRI Africa, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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by Tianyi Luo - May 10, 2018Power 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.
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by Jiao Wang - April 26, 2018While 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.
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by Charles Iceland, Tianyi Luo and Gennadii Donchyts - April 11, 2018Cape 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.