Earth enters era of “global water bankruptcy”

According to a new flagship report released in January by UN researchers, the world is rapidly depleting its natural “water savings accounts”. More than half the world’s large lakes have declined since the early 1990’s, while around 35 per cent of natural wetlands have been lost since 1970, said Mr. Madani, Director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. 

“This is not to kill hope but to encourage action and an honest admission of failure today to protect and enable tomorrow,” he told a press briefing in New York.

The report calls for a transition from crisis response to bankruptcy management, grounded in honesty about the irreversibly of losses, protection of remaining water resources – and policies that match hydrological reality rather than past norms.  https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/01/1166800