Systems and sectors at baseline

4 min read0 figures2 tables13 notesNR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE

Contents
  1. ·Edition home
  2. ·Executive summary
  3. 1Water is where the systems meet
  4. 2Key findings
  5. 3Systems and sectors at baseline
    1. 3.1 Where each system stood at evidence close
    2. 3.2 Domain posture
    3. 3.3 Sector screens
  6. 4Risks and capability
  7. 5Multi-basin drought under heat
  8. 6Lenses and readings
  9. 7The 2027 agenda
  10. 8Systems in depth
  11. AMethodology
  12. BData appendix
  13. CReferences and record
  14. ·Complete edition, for print

3.1Where each system stood at evidence close

WAT · Water

People without safely managed drinking water

2.2billion

and 2 billion without basic hygiene services at home.

Reported2022JMP1

ENE · Energy

Share of global freshwater withdrawals for energy

≈10%

mostly cooling for thermal power; hydropower adds storage and flow dependence.

Reported2014IEA14

FOO · Food

Share of withdrawals used by agriculture

≈70%

Irrigated land produces a large share of the world’s food from a minority of cropland.

ReportedrecentUNWWDR2 · FAO15

HLT · Health

Deaths attributable to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene

1.4million

in 2019, most of them from diarrhoeal disease.

Reported2019WHO38

BIO · Biodiversity

Average decline of freshwater wildlife populations

−85%

1970–2020, the steepest decline of any realm.

Reported1970–2020WWF17

SYS · Cross-system

Driest year for global rivers in 33 years

2023

Glaciers lost more than 600 Gt of water in the same year.

Reported2023WMO5

3.2Domain posture

Each of the twelve coupled domains is read through water, in words, not scored. The coupling column names the dependency that carries water risk into each domain.

Table 3.1Each domain read in words, not scored
DomainPosture at baselineCouplingStatus
WATAccess unfinished; scarcity seasonal for half of humanity; groundwater and glaciers declining.the core systemReported EQL 4
ENEAbout 10% of withdrawals; hydropower and thermal cooling exposed to low flows and heat.WAT → ENEReported EQL 3
FOOAbout 70% of withdrawals; irrigated yields depend on groundwater and glacier-fed rivers.WAT → FOOReported EQL 4
HLT1.4 million WASH-attributable deaths in 2019; floods spread water-borne disease.WAT → HLTReported EQL 4
BIOFreshwater wildlife down 85%; wetlands down 22% since 1970.WAT ↔ BIOReported EQL 4
CLIDrier rivers, faster glacier loss and more intense extremes with warming.CLI → WATReported EQL 5
INFAgeing networks, storage and flood defences; inland shipping exposed to low water.WAT ↔ INFInferred EQL 3
FINFlood losses large and often uninsured; water scarcity could cost some regions up to 6% of GDP by 2050.WAT → FINReported EQL 3
DATWater monitoring data are sparse for groundwater and quality.DAT → WATExpert input EQL 2
AICData centres add cooling-water demand; volumes not consolidated globally.AIC → WATExpert input EQL 2
MINMining and refining use and pollute water in already stressed basins.MIN → WATInferred EQL 2
TRDFood trade moves “virtual water”; export restrictions follow droughts.WAT → TRDInferred EQL 3

3.3Sector screens

All sixteen sectors are screened for their dependence on water, on the same grammar as every national edition. The evidence column describes coverage of the baseline evidence, not the performance of the sector.

Table 3.2Sectors: baseline evidence and the exposure to watch
CodeSectorBaseline evidenceExposure to watchEvidence coverage
GS-00Cross-systemwater couples all five core systems46multi-basin droughtPARTIAL
GS-01Wateraccess gaps; seasonal scarcity for half of humanity12drought, flood, depletionGOOD
GS-02Energyabout 10% of withdrawals14low flows and hot cooling waterPARTIAL
GS-03Foodabout 70% of withdrawals2aquifer decline; droughtGOOD
GS-04Health1.4 million WASH deaths, 201938water-borne disease after floodsGOOD
GS-05Financeup to 6% of GDP at stake in some regions35uninsured flood lossesPARTIAL
GS-06Development739 million children in high scarcity39access gaps in fragile settingsPARTIAL
GS-07Climatedriest year for rivers in 33 years5glacier loss; intensifying extremesGOOD
GS-08Disasterfloods among the costliest perils7concurrent floods and droughtsGOOD
GS-09Infrastructureageing water networks and damsfailure and low-water navigationTHIN
GS-10Citiesurban demand rising fastestshortage and pluvial floodingPARTIAL
GS-11Biodiversityfreshwater wildlife −85%17flow alteration; pollutionGOOD
GS-12Earth observationsatellite gravimetry tracks storage19continuity of missionsPARTIAL
GS-13Cyber and digitalcontrol systems for utilitiesattacks on water systemsTHIN
GS-14Policy153 countries share basins9arrangements incompletePARTIAL
GS-15Sciencedeep hydrological sciencegroundwater and quality dataPARTIAL

Notes

Numbers are the edition’s reference numbers, so a note reads the same in every chapter. The full list, with every source and its licence, is in Annex C. Annex C, references

  1. 1WHO and UNICEF (eds.), Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000–2022: Special Focus on Gender. Joint Monitoring Programme, New York and Geneva, 2023.back
  2. 14International Energy Agency (ed.), Water–Energy Nexus. World Energy Outlook 2016 Special Report. IEA, Paris, 2016.back
  3. 2UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (ed.), The United Nations World Water Development Report 2024: Water for Prosperity and Peace. UNESCO, Paris, 2024.back
  4. 15FAO (ed.), The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2021: Systems at Breaking Point. FAO, Rome, 2021.back
  5. 38WHO (ed.), Burden of Disease Attributable to Unsafe Drinking-water, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2019 Update. WHO, Geneva, 2023.back
  6. 17WWF (ed.), Living Planet Report 2024: A System in Peril. WWF, Gland, 2024.back
  7. 5WMO (ed.), State of Global Water Resources 2023. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, 2024.back
  8. 46P. D. McElwee, P. A. Harrison, T. L. van Huysen et al. (eds.), Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health. IPBES secretariat, Bonn, 2024. doi:10.5281/zenodo.13850054. doi:10.5281/zenodo.13850054back
  9. 35World Bank (ed.), High and Dry: Climate Change, Water, and the Economy. World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016.back
  10. 39UNICEF (ed.), The Climate-Changed Child: A Children’s Climate Risk Index Supplement. UNICEF, New York, 2023.back
  11. 7Munich Re (ed.), Natural disasters in 2025: NatCatSERVICE full-year figures. Munich Re, Munich, January 2026.back
  12. 19M. Rodell, J. S. Famiglietti, D. N. Wiese et al., “Emerging trends in global freshwater availability,” Nature, vol. 557, pp. 651–659, 2018.back
  13. 9UNECE and UNESCO (eds.), Progress on Transboundary Water Cooperation: Global Status of SDG Indicator 6.5.2 and Acceleration Needs, 2024. United Nations, Geneva and Paris, 2024.back

Cite this chapter

Valadbaygi, S. (Ed.). (2026). Chapter 3: Systems and sectors at baseline. In Global Water Risk and Resilience Report 2026: The State of the World’s Water System (Baseline Edition 2026, Report No. NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE) [Draft under review]. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI).

Every citation form of the whole report, BibTeX and RIS included, is on the edition home. Cite this report

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The sectors behind Global Water.

A reading aid: the sectors the findings run through and how strongly they depend on each other.

Select corners · hover lines6 / 15 relations

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Water and its partners

Water gives irrigation to food (0.8), cooling water and hydropower to energy (0.6) and environmental flows to biodiversity (0.6).

W · E · I · F · H · B

Sectors
4 of 6
Relations
6 of 15
Coupling
0.43 share of total

Strongest relations in play

  • Food → Biodiversity · land conversion0.6
  • Water → Energy · cooling water and hydropower0.6
  • Water → Food · irrigation0.8
  • Water → Biodiversity · environmental flows0.6
Teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements for any place. Coupling is the summed strength of the relations in play, as a share of all fifteen.
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