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The Economics of Water
Rethinking our relationship with water is crucial to our green economy transformation as it makes a case for promoting green and blue innovation and finance.
1 January 2024
What are the challenges of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water?
For the first time in history, human activity and practices have put the global water cycle, on which all life depends, on an unsustainable course. The science also shows how communities and nations are hydrologically intertwined through not just surface water but also atmospheric moisture flows.
The global water crisis will endanger all the Sustainable Development Goals, making them virtually impossible to achieve. It will imperil food and health security, exacerbate poverty, and peace within and between nations. It will disproportionately affect women, vulnerable and marginalised groups among indigenous communities, youth, farmers, workers and small and medium-sized businesses.
All of our current arrangements and economic thinking rest on the assumption that the local and regional supply of water is relatively stable, predictable and manageable. This is no longer true. Humanity is now in the midst of a global water crisis, around which the cost of inaction is unbearable, for both the Global North and the Global South.
The Global Commission on the Economics of water is tasked to properly define, value, and govern water as a global common good, based on a better understanding of the links between water, economic development, climate change and biodiversity loss. Thinking about water in this way will allow us to mobilise urgent collective action and design new rules that put equity and justice at the centre of our response to both a local and a global emergency.
Why is it key for our work on the green economy?
As water is integral to achieving most of the sustainable development challenges, such as combating climate change, poverty reduction, and inclusive growth, sustainable livelihoods, it can catalyse a new development model based on more equitable premises and better stewardship of nature. Rethinking our relationship with water is crucial to our green economy transformation as it makes a case for promoting green and blue innovation and finance and reimagining the state's role in shaping markets along with central banks and financial regulators.
Our work with the Global Commission on the Economics of Water
Report: "THE ECONOMICS OF WATER: Valuing the Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good"
Description: This report sets the stage for a much-needed transformation in how we value and manage water, essential to building resilient and equitable economies for the future.
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Johan Rockström, and Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Read the Report
Report: "Turning the Tide: A Call to Collective Action"
Description: This report highlights the urgent need for collective global action to address the systemic water crisis, which threatens to undermine efforts to combat climate change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Johan Rockström, and Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Read the Report
Event recording: UN 2023 Water Conference: GCEW's Transformative Agenda
Description: This video covers the official side event held by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) at the UN 2023 Water Conference. Hosted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the event presented a seven-point transformative agenda aimed at revolutionizing how we govern, value, and use water globally.
Video: The Global Commission on the Economics of Water
Speakers: Mariana Mazzucato, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Johan Rockström, and Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Description: This video explains the mission, goals, and key initiatives of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, highlighting the importance of managing water as a global common good.
- Academic journal papers
Q&A with Mariana Mazzucato and Others at Nature Water
Sjöstrand, K. (2023). Water for Sustainable Development. Nat Water, 1, 568–572
Read the Q&ARockström, J., Mazzucato, M., Andersen, L. S., Fahrländer, S. F., & Gerten, D. (2023). Why We Need a New Economics for Water as a Common Good
Nature, 615
Read the Article- Policy briefs and reports
Mazzucato, M., Okonjo-Iweala, N., Rockström, J., & Shanmugaratnam, T. (2024). THE ECONOMICS OF WATER: Valuing the Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good
Global Commission on the Economics of Water, Paris
Read the ReprtMazzucato, M., Okonjo-Iweala, N., Rockström, J., & Shanmugaratnam, T. (2023). Turning the Tide: A Call to Collective Action
Global Commission on the Economics of Water, Paris
Read the ReportGCEW (2023). The What, Why and How of the World Water Crisis: Global Commission on the Economics of Water Phase 1 Review and Findings
Read the Report- Working papes
- Mazzucato, M. (2023). A Collective Response to Our Global Challenges: A Common Good and “Market-Shaping” Approach
Read the Working Paper - Events
Financing Water Security: Increasing Investments to Close the Gap Between Water Demand and Supply
Washington DC, October 2024
View Event DetailsFourth in-person meeting of the GCEW
Geneva, July 2023
View Event PhotosThird in-person meeting of the GCEW
Potsdam, December 2022
View Event DetailsSecond in-person meeting of the GCEW
Organised by IIPP, September 2022
View Event DetailsFirst in-person meeting of the GCEW
Geneva, May 2022
View Event Details- Blogs
- The Bartlett Review 2023: To Stop Water Crises, the World Must Value Water as a Global Common Good
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato and Dr. Virgi Sari
Read the Report - Media
Expertengremium berechnet enorme Kosten der Wasserkrise (Expert panel calculates enormous costs of the water crisis)
ZEIT
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato
Read the Article
Half of all global food threatened by growing water crisis, report says
NBC News
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato
Read the Article
Water Crises Threaten the World’s Ability to Eat, Studies Show
The New York Times
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato
Read the Article
The system that moves water around the Earth is off balance for the first time in human history
CNN
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato
Read the Article
Water Crisis Endangers 8% of GDP in High-Income Countries, Report Warns
Bloomberg
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato
Read the ArticleGlobal water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk in next 25 years
The Guardian
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato
Read the Interview
Confronting the Global Water Crisis
Project Syndicate
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Johan Rockström and Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Read the ArticleGlobal Fresh Water Demand Will Outstrip Supply by 40% by 2030, Say Experts
The Guardian
Authors: Mariana Mazzucato and Johan Rockström
Read the Interview"Keinen Tropfen mehr zu verschenken" ("Not a Drop Left to Give Away")
Die Zeit
Interviewee: Mariana Mazzucato
Read the Interview
Contact
Luca Kühn von Burgsdorff
Email: luca.burgsdorff@ucl.ac.uk