2025 Water Aid Report on Water and Climate

In March 2025, the UK charity Water Aid released the report “Water and Climate: Rising Risks for Urban Populations”. The key findings of the report were:

• 15% of the cities examined in this report show an intensification trend, which we have termed ‘climate whiplash’, where both extreme dry and wet episodes are substantially increasing. These whiplashing extremes in quick succession can be particularly hard for communities to prepare for and recover from. These cities are found across the world, from Asia to the Middle East and Africa and the USA.
• South and Southeast Asia is a regional hotspot with a strong wetting trend. This region is experiencing an increase in wet and extreme wet climate, which increases the likelihood of extreme flooding. Many of the world’s largest cities are located in this area.
• Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa are experiencing a drying trend and are likely to face more frequent and long-lasting droughts.
• Over 20% of the cities are experiencing a reversal in their climate extremes. Approximately 13% are flipping toward a more extreme wet climate, while about 7% are flipping toward a more extreme dry climate.
• The convergence of underlying social and infrastructure vulnerabilities with these climatic patterns results in hotspots of risk in two key regions:
• South and Southeast Asia, which is experiencing increases in wet extremes.
• North and East Africa, which is experiencing increases in both wet and dry extremes.

 Water Aid has called for:

• Greater investment to tackle the water crisis: Development partners, multilateral banks and the private sector should work together to unlock investment in climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene systems that benefits the most vulnerable.
• Global leadership to accelerate action on water: Governments and development partners must work through the existing multilateral platforms to deliver ambitious action on climate and water, including through the UNFCCC, the G7 Water Coalition and the G20 Call to Action on Strengthening Drinking-water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Services.
• National government leadership to urgently deliver water plans: Governments in affected countries to mainstream and implement water,sanitation and hygiene measures into their national and city-level climateadaptation plans with a focus on vulnerable groups, especially women and girls.
• Prioritise the most vulnerable communities: All decision-makers to recognise overlapping vulnerabilities and prioritise the leadership and needs of women, girls and marginalised groups in climate-resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene plans.