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Global Water Risk and Resilience Report 2026

The State of the World’s Water System. The first annual edition of the global water report. It fixes the 2026 reference state of the world’s water system, and the model, voice and positions, against which the 2027 water edition and every national water chapter will be read.

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المحرر
Saeed Valadbaygi
المكتب
GCRI Systems Evidence
الناشر الرسمي
GCRI for the Nexus Consortium
إغلاق الأدلة
30 September 2026
الحالة
Draft in stewardship review; not yet released
التقاريرGS-01

مخاطر القطاعات وصمودها على الصعيد العالمي

Global Water 2026

The State of the World’s Water System

إصدار خط الأساس 2026NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINEGCRI for the Nexus Consortium
النتائج12each with its status and source
المصادر47numbered, editor first
Chapters and annexes11plus the executive summary
المؤشرات الفرعية18in the data appendix, with CSV and JSON

01 · Status

Status and boundaries.

This edition governs nothing and confers no certification. It records where the global evidence stood at the 2026 baseline. Every value resolves to its source or to its stated method; where neither exists, the edition says so instead of filling the gap.

Publication ID
NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-v1.0.0
Series alias
NR-SEC-GS-01-2026-BL
Identifier status
Series alias and evidence cut are provisional until the owner confirms them. No UNI is minted.
Family · class
Global Sector Report GS-01 Water · Baseline Edition (inaugural annual)
Lifecycle state
◌ DRAFT, review copy before stewardship review
Publication date
October 2026
إغلاق الأدلة
30 September 2026 · cut DC-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-B0
قابلية إعادة الإنتاج
sourced values cited; analytical values reproducible from stated parameters
Access class
PUBLIC-SAFE DERIVATIVE
المراجعة
five passes scheduled before release (in Annex C)
Designed for
strategic planning · water-risk screening · portfolio discussion · research · basin dialogue · public communication
ليس مخصصًا لـ
government assessment · official warning · rating · certification · investment advice · underwriting · procurement · operational authorisation
السجل
record NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE · current-version pointer at release
التصحيحات
registry correction pathway · history in Annex C
استخدام الذكاء الاصطناعي
disclosed in Annex C
Next edition
NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2027-v1.0.0 · 2027 annual
الترخيص
text CC BY 4.0 · data on the terms of each source
Desk identifier
NR-GCRI-GS-01-2026-BASELINE-v1.0.0
Collection
NR-COL-2026-BASELINE

02 · Key messages

What the edition finds.

Five of the questions the edition answers, each with its status. The executive summary has all of them, with their sources.

  1. 2.2 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water and 3.5 billion safely managed sanitation in 2022.

    Who lacks safe water?مُبلَّغ عنه

  2. Roughly half of the world’s people face severe scarcity for part of each year.

    How widespread is scarcity?مُبلَّغ عنه

  3. 2023 was the driest year for rivers in 33 years; glaciers lost more than 600 Gt.

    Is the water cycle changing?مُبلَّغ عنه

  4. It supplies about half of domestic water, and declines have accelerated in many aquifers.

    What about groundwater?مُبلَّغ عنه

  5. Agriculture uses about 70% of withdrawals; drought cuts yields and raises prices.

    How does water drive food risk?مُبلَّغ عنه

All key messages and the headline finding

03 · Contents

Eight chapters and three annexes.

  1. ·

    Executive summary

    The edition on a few pages: the abstract, the key messages, the headline finding and what each steward reads in it.

  2. 1

    Chapter 1. Water is where the systems meet

    Part I describes النظم and their couplings.

  3. 2

    Chapter 2. Key findings

    Twelve findings carry the water baseline.

  4. 3

    Chapter 3. Systems and sectors at baseline

  5. 4

    Chapter 4. Risks and capability

    Four water risk objects open the portfolio.

  6. 5

    Chapter 5. Multi-basin drought under heat

    A conditional statement under stated assumptions, never a prediction.

  7. 6

    Chapter 6. Readings from the other desks

    The water baseline is read through each steward’s lens, then once as a whole.

  8. 7

    Chapter 7. The 2027 agenda

    Eight bounded questions open the 2027 water agenda.

  9. 8

    Chapter 8. Systems in depth

    One section per system: its state at evidence close, its exposures and what the operational series will watch.

  10. A

    Annex A. Methodology

    How the edition was made: methods, the model card, the evidence cut and its age, the acceptance record and the glossary.

  11. B

    Annex B. Data appendix

    The indicator set with its sources, the source registers, the licences of every kind of material and the formats of the edition.

  12. C

    Annex C. References and record

    Every source the edition rests on, the publication record, the corrections log and the open record.

List of figures (4)
  1. S.1People without services, 2022 (billion)
  2. 1.1How far is the world from universal water, sanitation and hygiene? People without services, 2022 (billion)
  3. 1.2Couplings across the six sectors
  4. 2.1People without services, 2022 (billion)
List of tables (43)
  1. 1.1Coupling matrix: from the row system to the column system
  2. 1.2Pairs of systems where both directions are rated strong
  3. 3.1Each domain read in words, not scored
  4. 3.2Sectors: baseline evidence and the exposure to watch
  5. 4.1Capabilities on the ladder of evidence: listed, exists, demonstrated, tested
  6. 6.12027 water readiness pack
  7. 6.2Standards and regulatory watch
  8. 6.3Peer-reviewed science and assessments
  9. 6.4Institutional flagships
  10. 6.5UN statistics and monitoring
  11. 6.6Energy, nature, finance and loss data
  12. 7.1Objects proposed for the first operational quarter
  13. 7.2Universe 2027, evidence pack for the water candidate mission
  14. 7.3Handoffs and routing
  15. 7.4Routing rules by publication class
  16. 7.5Feeds watched from 2027
  17. 7.6Signals at baseline
  18. 8.1State at baseline
  19. 8.2State at baseline
  20. 8.3State at baseline
  21. 8.4State at baseline
  22. 8.5State at baseline
  23. A.1الأساليب
  24. A.2Coupling strength scale (matrix and model card)
  25. A.3Status grammar
  26. A.4From the baseline cut to the federation cut
  27. A.5Evidence age and coverage
  28. A.6Coverage by system at baseline
  29. A.7Quality dimensions at baseline
  30. A.8Publication acceptance record
  31. A.9The status every value carries
  32. A.10Series terms
  33. A.11Abbreviations used in this edition
  34. A.12Technical annex
  35. B.1Global baseline indicator set
  36. B.2Global baseline indicator set
  37. B.3Global source register
  38. B.4Regional reading, water across ten clusters
  39. B.5How countries appear in the water edition
  40. B.6National Baseline Editions in the 2026 programme
  41. B.7Licences of each kind of material
  42. B.8This edition in every format
  43. C.1Release path for this version

04 · GCRI reading

How GCRI reads this edition.

The evidence supports reading water as the coupling layer of the WEFH+B system. Access remains unfinished, scarcity is seasonal for half of humanity, and the cycle is shifting: drier rivers, faster glacier loss and declining aquifers. Evidence is strongest for access and hydrology, and weakest for groundwater and quality.

WAT-001 · WAT-004 · WAT-005 · SYS-012

Chapter 6, lenses and readings

05 · Publication record

Version, dates and contributors.

The identity of this edition as its title pages record it. A review copy has no DOI; the DOI is issued at deposit.

Publication ID
NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-v1.0.0
الإصدار
1.0.0, review copy
Edition date
إغلاق الأدلة
الحالة
Draft under stewardship review; not yet released
المحرر
Saeed Valadbaygi
الناشر الرسمي
The ⁨Global Centre for Risk and Innovation⁩ (⁨GCRI⁩)
Licence of the text
⁨CC BY 4.0⁩
DOI
Issued at deposit, on release
الطبعة السابقة
none, first edition of the series
Next edition
NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2027-v1.0.0

Contributors

الدورالمساهمةBy
ConceptualisationSeries architecture and the water sector modelS. Valadbaygi (ed.)
المنهجيةBaseline method, dependency scoring and status grammarالتقارير editorial team, GCRI
Investigation · data curationSource review of water assessments, UN statistics and the peer-reviewed literatureReports editorial team, GCRI
Writing, original draftAll chapters; AI-assisted drafting, disclosed belowEditor · editorial team
Writing, review and editingFive review passes before releaseSteward reviewers (scheduled)
VisualisationPages, figures and tables in the Nexus design standardReports editorial team, GCRI
الرقابةEdition governance, registry record and depositS. Valadbaygi (ed.)

المراجعة قبل الإصدار

المرورالنطاقByالحالة
1Scientific and technicalGCRI · key Tمجدول
2Reproducibility of analytical valuesGCRI · key Tمجدول
3Public meaning and claimsThe Global Risks Forum (GRF) · key Mمجدول
4Finance-readiness boundaryThe Global Risks Alliance (GRA) · key Fمجدول
5Basin and regional context, safeguardsRegional consortia · key Nمجدول

AI assistance was used for drafting, consistency checks and page composition. Every number, citation and status label was checked against its source by the editorial team before freeze. No AI system is recorded as an author or a reviewer, and no AI output is printed as fact without a source.

06 · Downloads

Read it in print, take the data.

Draft, not yet releasedReview copies of a draft in stewardship review. The released edition carries its DOI and replaces them.

  • طباعة

    • PDF, A4

      The designed print edition, A4: cover, imprint and licence, how to cite, contents with page numbers, every chapter, figure, table and annex.

      PDF98 pages801 KBTagged, with bookmarks

      SHA-256 d642262d64f74b641881a8f07706cdf8dfb1c6a9b59ba2eaa9543f55c90a5bcc

      تنزيل: PDF, A4

    • PDF, US Letter

      The designed print edition, US Letter: cover, imprint and licence, how to cite, contents with page numbers, every chapter, figure, table and annex.

      PDF104 pages810 KBTagged, with bookmarks

      SHA-256 41da764f80eee19d2979451e476cbba780b97cd60fc71fffc79a6b9b52f87507

      تنزيل: PDF, US Letter

  • Web edition

  • Data bundle

    • Indicators, CSV

      18 indicators with unit, year, status and source

      NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-indicators.csv1 KB

      SHA-256 057f83c0a088bf1daf982cc41d798df18451fa35a12befd1514db0bb025805c6

      تنزيل: Indicators, CSV

    • Indicators, JSON

      The same indicators with the edition’s identity and licence

      NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-indicators.json2 KB

      SHA-256 7d87520e9eeba65653c7964975336f15a3c52a4e5edfcad6c218b62fcb9b72dc

      تنزيل: Indicators, JSON

    • Findings, CSV

      12 findings with status, evidence-quality level and references

      NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-findings.csv2 KB

      SHA-256 1827ad39d1b16a9933f487ffc27589658f3bdf465127304c8f44ee27fc5cfa8d

      تنزيل: Findings, CSV

  • Citation files

    • Citation, BibTeX

      For LaTeX and reference managers

      NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE.bib1 KB

      SHA-256 a0f80dd4148e8ed461604d9e2b7ac53c58673cf5404a206958699b1d88f458fe

      تنزيل: Citation, BibTeX

    • Citation, RIS

      For Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley

      NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE.ris1 KB

      SHA-256 bf826f2af4ef3395a43f64762a41f3b6c4ecdbd09c14587bd03d0f072ab2bdef

      تنزيل: Citation, RIS

    • Citation, CITATION.cff

      Citation File Format 1.2.0, for GitHub, Zenodo and software catalogues

      NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE.cff1 KB

      SHA-256 74116dec0de345d303cb53807eae226ee2bbc5a176c6e3c46906557cb053b718

      تنزيل: Citation, CITATION.cff

Check a file with its SHA-256: shasum -a 256 <file> (macOS, Linux) or Get-FileHash <file> (Windows). Text, tables and figures by Nexus: CC BY 4.0; each source keeps its own licence.

07 · Cite

Cite this report.

This edition is a draft in stewardship review. Cite it as a draft; the DOI and the UNI are issued at deposit, and the citation then names them.
Catalogue keyNR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE

Standards applied to NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE

Cite as

S. Valadbaygi (ed.), Global Water Risk and Resilience Report 2026: The State of the World’s Water System. Reports, Baseline Edition 2026. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) for the Nexus Consortium, Toronto, 2026. NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE. DOI at deposit.

Applied

NS-1 catalogue identity (a UNI is allocated at deposit and resolves to this record), NS-2 citation and attribution, NS-3b dataset metadata, NS-5 figures and maps, NS-12 software and AI disclosure.

الرصد

Corrections are new versions with a published notice; the earlier version stays resolvable.

An attestation is evidence, not a certificate. Nexus Standards parts are preparatory working drafts (2026).

APA 7
Valadbaygi, S. (Ed.). (2026). 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). https://therisk.global/nexus-reports/editions/gs-01/
Chicago
Valadbaygi, Saeed, ed. Global Water Risk and Resilience Report 2026: The State of the World’s Water System. Baseline Edition 2026. Nexus Reports NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE. Draft under review. Toronto: The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI), 2026. https://therisk.global/nexus-reports/editions/gs-01/.
BibTeX
@techreport{NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE,
  editor      = {Valadbaygi, Saeed},
  title       = {{Global Water Risk and Resilience Report 2026}: The State of the World’s Water System},
  institution = {The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)},
  address     = {Toronto},
  year        = {2026},
  type        = {Nexus Reports, Baseline Edition 2026},
  number      = {NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE},
  note        = {Draft under stewardship review; not yet released. DOI assigned at deposit},
  url         = {https://therisk.global/nexus-reports/editions/gs-01/}
}
RIS
TY  - RPRT
ED  - Valadbaygi, Saeed
TI  - Global Water Risk and Resilience Report 2026: The State of the World’s Water System
T3  - Nexus Reports
ET  - Baseline Edition 2026
PY  - 2026
PB  - The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
CY  - Toronto
SN  - NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE
UR  - https://therisk.global/nexus-reports/editions/gs-01/
N1  - Draft under stewardship review; not yet released. DOI assigned at deposit.
LA  - en
ER  -
NR-CIT-1 (house style)
S. Valadbaygi (ed.), Global Water Risk and Resilience Report 2026: The State of the World’s Water System. Nexus Reports, Baseline Edition 2026. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) for the Nexus Consortium, Toronto, 2026. NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE. DOI at deposit.
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Reports · GCRI

Bring evidence to the next edition.

Every quarter closes on a sealed evidence cut. A correction, a source or a method received before the cut is reviewed for that edition.

ساهمسجل التصحيحات
  • NR-SECTOR-WATER-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE
  • ⁨CC BY 4.0⁩
  • Evidence close 30 September 2026

⁨CC BY 4.0⁩ Free to read. Text and figures: CC BY 4.0. Data: CC0 1.0. Authors keep copyright. Published by GCRI Canada.

بصمة القطاع

The sectors behind Global Water.

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

اختر الزوايا · مرّر المؤشر فوق الخطوط6 / 15 علاقة

التوقيع

المياه وشركاؤها

تعطي المياه الري للغذاء (0.8) وماء التبريد والطاقة الكهرمائية للطاقة (0.6) والتدفقات البيئية للتنوع البيولوجي (0.6).

W · E · I · F · H · B

القطاعات
4 من 6
العلاقات
6 من 15
الترابط
0.43 الحصة من الإجمالي

أقوى العلاقات المؤثرة

  • الغذاء ← التنوع البيولوجي · تحويل استخدام الأراضي0.6
  • المياه ← الطاقة · مياه التبريد والطاقة الكهرمائية0.6
  • المياه ← الغذاء · الري0.8
  • المياه ← التنوع البيولوجي · التدفقات البيئية0.6
قيم تعليمية لإقليم مدني نموذجي، وليست قياسات لأي مكان. والاقتران هو مجموع قوة العلاقات المؤثرة، كحصة من العلاقات الخمس عشرة كلها.
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