Reproducibility package for Continental Drying: A Threat To Our Common Future

[NOTE: The reproducibility package for this report is currently undergoing final checks and will be available on this page in the coming days.]

Grounded in new evidence from satellite data, Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future presents the first global assessment of freshwater reserves over the past two decades. The findings expose an alarming trend of ""continental drying,"" a persistent long-term decline in freshwater availability across vast landmasses. Not only are droughts and deluges becoming more unpredictable, but the total amount of fresh water available for use has also significantly declined. Continental drying, driven by global warming, worsening droughts, and unsustainable water and land use, is a silent but accelerating crisis--largely unknown to the public--that reshapes the global water narrative.

Continental drying raises profound risks. This report reveals new empirical evidence showing how freshwater depletion leads to major job losses, reduced incomes, wildfires, and biodiversity threats. In the long term, the combined effects of drying and warming could push societies toward a tipping point where damage accelerates rapidly and adaptation becomes increasingly difficult.

Against the backdrop of continental drying, global water consumption rose by 25 percent between 2000 and 2019, with about a third of this increase occurring in regions already experiencing drying. Compounding the pressure, a substantial share of water use in drying regions remains inefficient. Continental Drying identifies hot spots where rising demand and declining supply converge and explores where and how water savings can be realized.

This report recommends a three-pronged approach to address the crisis: managing demand, augmenting water supply, and improving water allocation. Five cross-cutting levers--strengthening institutions, reforming water tariffs and repurposing subsidies, adopting water accounting, leveraging data and technological innovations, and valuing water in trade--are essential for effective implementation and to attract private investment to finance the approach. Beyond water, addressin