The world is losing 324 billion cubic meters of freshwater every year, enough to meet the needs of 280 million people annually, according to the first edition of the Global Water Monitoring Report released today by the World Bank on November 4, 2025. These losses are driven by worsening droughts and unsustainable land and water practices, including poor pricing policies, weak coordination, deforestation, wetland degradation, and excessive irrigation.

The report, Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future, provides the most detailed picture yet of global freshwater decline, and offers a roadmap for reversing the trend through smarter policy and investment.

At this online seminar, Fan Zhang, World Bank’s Lead Economist and Globa Lead for Water Economics and Climate Change, shared the main points of the report. 
 

Speaker