United Nations World Water Development Report 2023: Partnerships and Cooperation for Water
About this book
United Nations World Water Development Report 2023: Partnerships and Cooperation for Water, published by UN-Water and UNESCO on behalf of the UN-Water family of 31 United Nations entities and 39 international organisations, is the flagship annual assessment of global freshwater resources, water management, and water-related sustainable development. The 2023 edition focuses on partnerships and cooperation as the essential mechanisms for addressing a global water crisis that affects virtually every country and every ecosystem on Earth. The 2023 report opens with an assessment of the global water crisis through multiple lenses.
Hydrologically, approximately 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity for at least one month per year, and 2 billion lack access to safely managed drinking water services. Ecologically, freshwater ecosystems — rivers, lakes, wetlands — have experienced a 84% decline in vertebrate populations since 1970, making freshwater environments the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. Economically, water-related disasters (floods, droughts, water-borne disease outbreaks) cost the global economy an estimated $1-3 trillion annually.
Climate change is identified as the primary multiplier of water challenges in this edition. Temperature increases are intensifying the hydrological cycle: wet regions are getting wetter (increasing flood risk and soil erosion), while dry regions are getting drier (intensifying drought and desertification). Glacier retreat is threatening freshwater availability for an estimated 2 billion people in mountain-dependent river basins across the Hindu Kush, Andes, and Alps.
Rising sea levels are increasing saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers. The partnerships framework is the report's distinctive contribution. It examines transboundary water cooperation (approximately 60% of freshwater flows across national boundaries, yet fewer than half of the world's 310 transboundary river basins have functional cooperative agreements), public-private partnerships in water infrastructure finance, and community-level water governance models from rural watershed management to urban water utility reform.
Water-energy-food nexus analysis demonstrates the deep interconnections between water security and other sustainability dimensions: hydropower provides approximately 16% of global electricity; agriculture consumes approximately 70% of freshwater withdrawals; and energy production accounts for 15% of water use globally. Policy decisions in one sector have cascading implications for others.