The Economics of Water: Valuing The Hydrological Cycle As A Global Common Good
A tilted hydrological cycle is fundamentally an intergenerational issue. Since its launch at the World Water Forum in Bali, the Youth Water Agenda has engaged with hundreds of young people worldwide who recognise the stakes and are committed to protecting our global common good. However, current market and societal structures significantly limit young people’s ability to fully participate in properly valuing and governing of the hydrological cycle as a global common good.
The continued overexploitation and mismanagement of water by current generations are pushing the hydrological cycle increasingly out of balance, amplifying global instability. This has obstructed our ability to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, meaning that both current and future generations are already facing and will continue to face even harsher periods of water scarcity and floodings, leading to increased economic hardship, social conflict, and environmental degradation. We, the youth and generations to come, will most acutely experience the consequences of today’s inaction, and we have the right to meaningfully participate in shaping the world we will inherit.
As young people, we must (1) ensure that blue and green water resources are used sustainably and replenished so that future generations inherit a system capable of supporting their needs; (2) commit to protecting the balance of the hydrological cycle so that both present and future generations have equitable access to clean and sufficient water, including for productive use, and prevent the concentration of resources or pollution in ways that would disadvantage those to come; and (3) hold to account the current generation to act as stewards of our global common good, taking responsibility for the long-term impacts of their decisions on water, ecosystems and beyond.
A key mission of the Youth Water Agenda is to secure dignified livelihoods for current and future generations in a world where uncertainty is rapidly becoming the norm. We believe that true intergenerational justice can only be achieved if young people are meaningful engaged and systematically included within decision-making processes across governing institutions, multilateral systems and frameworks.
Strong investments in transforming educational systems are imperative to ensure we have a generation well-prepared to safeguard the hydrological cycle. Young engineers, economists, farmers, entrepreneurs, researchers, bankers and policymakers are uniquely positioned to foster a systemic understanding of water-related challenges and spark transformational shifts. The youth potential is immense, yet, many areas of value creation within our societies – including academia, industry, and policymaking – remain hierarchical and dominated by older generations. Therefore, we urge governments at all levels to invest in youth and shape today’s labour markets to integrate young professionals and their voices into the economy. By investing in education and creating green jobs for young professionals, we can unlock exponential growth in intergenerational innovation and research across sectors, address systemic challenges and drive change, while scaling up and supporting existing youth-led solutions and talent. In building a safe and just water future, as endorsed by the Global Commission on the
Economics of Water, young people must be continuously included, consulted and adequately compensated at each step of the process, with robust accountability mechanisms, to promote an intergenerational approach to water governance. Shaping markets means investing in youth today – a condition for success tomorrow.
Elizabeth Wathuti, on behalf of the Youth Expert Group
Founder, Green Generation Initiative, Commissioner, Global Commission on the
Economics of Water
THE ECONOMICS OF WATER: VALUING THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE AS A GLOBAL COMMON GOOD
From crisis to opportunity
The world faces a growing water disaster. For the first time in human history, the hydrological cycle is out of balance, undermining an equitable and sustainable future for all. We can fix this crisis if we act more collectively, and with greater urgency. Vitally too, restoring stability of the water cycle is critical not only in its own right, but to avoid failing on climate change and safeguarding all the earth’s ecosystems, as well as on each and every one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will preserve food security, keep economies and job opportunities growing, and ensure a just and liveable future for everyone.
Decades of collective mismanagement and undervaluation of water around the world have damaged our freshwater and land ecosystems and allowed for the continuing contamination of water resources. We can no longer count on freshwater availability for our collective future. More than 1,000 children under five die every day from illnesses caused by unsafe water and sanitation. Women and girls spend 200 million hours each day collecting and hauling water. Food systems are running out of fresh water, and cities are sinking as the aquifers underneath them run dry. We have, fundamentally, put the hydrological cycle itself under unprecedented stress, with growing consequences for communities and countries everywhere. Our policies, and the science and economics that underpin them, have also overlooked a critical freshwater resource, the “green water” in our soils and plant life, which ultimately circulates through the atmosphere and generates around half the rainfall we receive on land.
Most gravely, while itself a victim of climate change, the degradation of freshwater ecosystems including the loss of moisture in the soil has become a driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. The result is more frequent and increasingly severe droughts, floods, heatwaves, and wildfires, playing out across the globe. And a future of growing water scarcity, with grave consequences for human security. Nearly 3 billion people and more than half of the world’s food production are now in areas where total water storage is projected to decline.
We need bolder and more integrated thinking and a recasting of policy frameworks to address these challenges. The Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) calls for a new economics of water:
To read the executive summary of the report , please click on
/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/executive-summary-economics-of-water.pdf
^
The Economics of Water: Valuing The Hydrological Cycle As A Global Common Good
A tilted hydrological cycle is fundamentally an intergenerational issue. Since its launch at the World Water Forum in Bali, the Youth Water Agenda has engaged with hundreds of young people worldwide who recognise the stakes and are committed to protecting our global common good. However, current market and societal structures significantly limit young people’s ability to fully participate in properly valuing and governing of the hydrological cycle as a global common good.
The continued overexploitation and mismanagement of water by current generations are pushing the hydrological cycle increasingly out of balance, amplifying global instability. This has obstructed our ability to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, meaning that both current and future generations are already facing and will continue to face even harsher periods of water scarcity and floodings, leading to increased economic hardship, social conflict, and environmental degradation. We, the youth and generations to come, will most acutely experience the consequences of today’s inaction, and we have the right to meaningfully participate in shaping the world we will inherit.
As young people, we must (1) ensure that blue and green water resources are used sustainably and replenished so that future generations inherit a system capable of supporting their needs; (2) commit to protecting the balance of the hydrological cycle so that both present and future generations have equitable access to clean and sufficient water, including for productive use, and prevent the concentration of resources or pollution in ways that would disadvantage those to come; and (3) hold to account the current generation to act as stewards of our global common good, taking responsibility for the long-term impacts of their decisions on water, ecosystems and beyond.
A key mission of the Youth Water Agenda is to secure dignified livelihoods for current and future generations in a world where uncertainty is rapidly becoming the norm. We believe that true intergenerational justice can only be achieved if young people are meaningful engaged and systematically included within decision-making processes across governing institutions, multilateral systems and frameworks.
Strong investments in transforming educational systems are imperative to ensure we have a generation well-prepared to safeguard the hydrological cycle. Young engineers, economists, farmers, entrepreneurs, researchers, bankers and policymakers are uniquely positioned to foster a systemic understanding of water-related challenges and spark transformational shifts. The youth potential is immense, yet, many areas of value creation within our societies – including academia, industry, and policymaking – remain hierarchical and dominated by older generations. Therefore, we urge governments at all levels to invest in youth and shape today’s labour markets to integrate young professionals and their voices into the economy. By investing in education and creating green jobs for young professionals, we can unlock exponential growth in intergenerational innovation and research across sectors, address systemic challenges and drive change, while scaling up and supporting existing youth-led solutions and talent. In building a safe and just water future, as endorsed by the Global Commission on the
Economics of Water, young people must be continuously included, consulted and adequately compensated at each step of the process, with robust accountability mechanisms, to promote an intergenerational approach to water governance. Shaping markets means investing in youth today – a condition for success tomorrow.
Elizabeth Wathuti, on behalf of the Youth Expert Group
Founder, Green Generation Initiative, Commissioner, Global Commission on the
Economics of Water
THE ECONOMICS OF WATER: VALUING THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE AS A GLOBAL COMMON GOOD
From crisis to opportunity
The world faces a growing water disaster. For the first time in human history, the hydrological cycle is out of balance, undermining an equitable and sustainable future for all. We can fix this crisis if we act more collectively, and with greater urgency. Vitally too, restoring stability of the water cycle is critical not only in its own right, but to avoid failing on climate change and safeguarding all the earth’s ecosystems, as well as on each and every one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will preserve food security, keep economies and job opportunities growing, and ensure a just and liveable future for everyone.
Decades of collective mismanagement and undervaluation of water around the world have damaged our freshwater and land ecosystems and allowed for the continuing contamination of water resources. We can no longer count on freshwater availability for our collective future. More than 1,000 children under five die every day from illnesses caused by unsafe water and sanitation. Women and girls spend 200 million hours each day collecting and hauling water. Food systems are running out of fresh water, and cities are sinking as the aquifers underneath them run dry. We have, fundamentally, put the hydrological cycle itself under unprecedented stress, with growing consequences for communities and countries everywhere. Our policies, and the science and economics that underpin them, have also overlooked a critical freshwater resource, the “green water” in our soils and plant life, which ultimately circulates through the atmosphere and generates around half the rainfall we receive on land.
Most gravely, while itself a victim of climate change, the degradation of freshwater ecosystems including the loss of moisture in the soil has become a driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. The result is more frequent and increasingly severe droughts, floods, heatwaves, and wildfires, playing out across the globe. And a future of growing water scarcity, with grave consequences for human security. Nearly 3 billion people and more than half of the world’s food production are now in areas where total water storage is projected to decline.
We need bolder and more integrated thinking and a recasting of policy frameworks to address these challenges. The Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) calls for a new economics of water:
To read the executive summary of the report , please click on
/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/executive-summary-economics-of-water.pdf
^
