Water Futures Mobilizing Multi Stakeholder Action for Resilience 2025

21. Water stress is the ratio of water demand to renewable supply and measures the competition over local water resources. A smaller gap between supply and demand indicated a higher vulnerability to water shortages. Based on the World Resources Institute (WRI) water stress methodology, a country facing “extreme water stress” is using at least 80% of its available supply, whereas a “high water stress” means the country is withdrawing 40% of its available supply. 22. Kuzma, S., Saccoccia, L., Chertock, M. (2023). 25 Countries, Housing One-Quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress. World Resources Institute (WRI). https://www.wri.org/insights/highest-water-stressed-countries. 23. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2021). UN World Water Development Report 2021: Cultural values of water. https://www.unesco.org/reports/wwdr/2021/en/cultural-values-water . 24. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). (2021). An insight into the cultural and spiritual value of water. https://iucn.org/news/environmental-law/202104/insight-cultural-and-spiritual-value-water . 25. Pacific Institute. (2025). Water Conflict Chronology. https://www.worldwater.org/conflict/list/. 26. Voegele, J., Gouled, M., Tafara, E. (2024). Scaling up finance to ensure a water-secure future for all. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/scaling-up-finance-to-ensure-a-water-secure-future-for-all. 27. World Bank Group. (2024). Funding a Water-Secure Future : An Assessment of Global Public Spending. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/water/publication/funding-a-water-secure-future. 28. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2015). OECD Principles on Water Governance. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/topics/policy-sub-issues/water-governance/oecd-principles-on-water- governance-en.pdf/_jcr_content/renditions/original./oecd-principles-on-water-governance-en.pdf. 29. United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP). (2018). The United Nations World Water Development Report 2018: Nature-based Solutions for Water. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000261424. 30. World Bank Group. (2022). Water Resources Management. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/waterresourcesmanagement. 31. Global Water Intelligence (GWI) and XPV Water Partners. (2024). Investing in a Water-Secure Future: Value creation strategies in a changing world. https://www.globalwaterintel.com/documents/investing-in-a-water-secure-future. 32. Clean energy measures include: [1] use of geothermal energy to generate clean electricity, [2] use of solar and wind energy to generate clean electric power, [3] use of hydrogen in decarbonization of industry via fuel switching, [4] use of nuclear energy to generate clean thermo-electric power, [5] use of bioenergy to produce liquid biofuel, [6] use of batteries in electric light duty vehicles, [7] maintenance of the hydrology of peatlands, [8] direct air carbon capture and storage, [9] carbon sequestration via carbon capture and storage (BECCS), [10] tree planting (afforestation), [11] other measures including wastewater and irrigation, wetlands and hydropower. 33. International Universities Climate Alliance (IUCA). (2024). Water for Climate Mitigation: Estimating the Global Freshwater Requirements for Climate Mitigation Measures. University of New South Wales. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G7ZcPc7slhnwZJ8_FgNFwf1z87_uHcl1/view . 34. Masi, M., Oddo, E., Rulli, M. C., Seabra, J. E., & Goh, C. (2021). Roadmap to 2050: The Land-Water-Energy Nexus of Biofuels. UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network & Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. https://roadmap2050.report/static/files/roadmap-to-2050-biofuels.pdf. 35. International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and Bluerisk. (2023). Water for hydrogen production. https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2023/Dec/IRENA_Bluerisk_Water_for_hydrogen_ production_2023.pdf. 36. World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Arup. (2023). Net-zero operational carbon buildings: State of the art – Where we are on the journey to net-zero buildings in operation. https://www.wbcsd.org/wp-content/ uploads/2024/04/WBCSD-Net-zero-operational-buildings-State-of-the-art.pdf. 37. Embodied carbon includes indirect emissions from energy and direct emissions from global-warming chemicals related to raw material extraction, manufacturing, transport, installation and disposal. 38. As well as the onsite burning of fuels and emissions from chemical leaks causing global warming (e.g. refrigerants). 39. Arup. (2024). Whole life carbon assessments at global scale: A case study. https://www.arup.com/globalassets/downloads/insights/whole-life-carbon-assessments-case-study.pdf . 40. – The World Bank estimates $140.8 billion (2017 prices) of annual investment is needed to achieve SDG 6’s targets for water access and sanitation up to 2030. Source: World Bank. (2024). Funding a Water-Secure Future: An Assessment of Global Public Spending. https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/ documentdetail/099050624154572979/p172944100adb1042188ab1d289e7f2f00b. –Global Water Intelligence (GWI) estimates this figure at $486 billion annually. Source: GWI. (2018). Financing Water to 2030. https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/4517106/financing-water-to-2030?srsltid=AfmBOop5k-ylJWtBw VvTmT5GiEzorc6sQbBAOXkbbDjWI9iqZEzKtUJ4. 41. Sustainable water management costs include universal access to water and sanitation, wastewater treatment, pollution reduction and water governance. However, they do not include: financing, maintaining and operating existing water and wastewater infrastructure (debt not considered); land conservation to protect water-related ecosystems; flood protection measures; drought resilience through policy or water efficiency; transboundary water management. 42. World Resources Institute (WRI). (2020). Achieving Abundance: Understanding the Cost of a Sustainable Water Future. https://www.wri.org/research/achieving-abundance-understanding-cost-sustainable-water-future. Water Futures: Mobilizing Multi-Stakeholder Action for Resilience 46