Global water system under growing stress
Climate change drives more extreme weather events and disrupts the water cycle. The year 2025 was a year of new records – and not an isolated occurrence. It fits with a worsening trend of more intense floods, prolonged droughts and record-breaking extremes, the authors of the Global Water Monitor Report warn.
The report, published for the third time by the Global Water Monitor Consortium, builds on the work of previous years, summarising the state of the global water cycle in 2025, identifying key trends, and analysing major hydrological events. It includes updated metrics on rainfall, temperature, air humidity, river flows and water stored in lakes, soil and underground. It also provides insights into extreme rainfall and temperatures.
A threat to people, ecosystems and infrastructure
The report’s findings point to a global water system under growing stress, where faster hydrological change and rising temperatures are reshaping risks to people, ecosystems and infrastructure:
- The past three years were the hottest on record world-wide, confirming a persistent warming trend.
- Hot days exceeding 35 °C have been increasing by 1.2 per cent per decade, elevating risks to human health, ecosystems and agricultural systems.
- Extreme rainfall intensified globally, with maximum daily precipitation rising by 2.3 per cent per decade, increasing exposure to floods and landslides.
- “Climate whiplash” amplified disaster impacts, with rapid transitions between wet and dry conditions affecting the same regions in quick succession.
- Flash droughts are emerging as an increasingly distinct hazard, driven by rapid declines in soil moisture and water storage over days to weeks rather than gradual seasonal drying.
Shifts in regional risks
Water-related hazards appeared in regions where they had once been rare, including an equatorial cyclone affecting Indonesia and unprecedented glacial lake outburst floods in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. Among risks developing for 2026 is drought building across the Mediterranean, the Horn of Africa, Brazil and Central Asia, while above-average flood risk is emerging across the Sahel, southern Africa, northern Australia and much of Asia.
The report reinforces a clear message: as the planet warms, water challenges are escalating, year after year.
The Global Water Monitor Consortium consists of organisations and individuals that have joined forces to provide free, rapid and global information on climate and water resources. It includes, among others, the Australian National University, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology/Saudi Arabia, TU Wien/Austria, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), Aalborg University/Denmark and Nanjing University/China.
(GWMC/sri)
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