Resources & Scarcity: Water, Energy, Food Risks

The global water crisis remains severe in 2026, with the latest WHO/UNICEF and UN reporting still showing 2.1 billion people lacking safely managed drinking water, 3.4 billion lacking safely managed sanitation, and 1.7 billion lacking basic hygiene services. WHO/UNICEF also reported that since 2015, progress has been too slow to reach universal coverage, even though 961 million people have gained safely managed drinking-water services and 89 countries now have universal access to at least basic drinking water. The burden remains heaviest in poorer and fragile settings, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, where the World Bank says access is improving but remains low in many places, with only 68% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa having at least basic water services in 2024 and rural coverage far lower. UN and WMO reporting in September 2026 added that 2025 was one of the driest years for river flows in 35 years, with below-normal discharge across 36% of the world’s river basin area, underscoring how climate-driven drought and disrupted freshwater supplies are intensifying water insecurity worldwide.

Gaza remains in a severe humanitarian emergency, with conditions still described by UN agencies as dire despite the post-ceasefire partial improvement in access. OCHA reported in July 2026 that 67% of the population continued to face high levels of acute food insecurity, with 1.2 million people in Crisis or worse and 212,000 in Emergency conditions; the IPC projected deterioration to 1.4 million people in Crisis or worse by the end of 2026. The December 2025 IPC/UN update also said at least 1.6 million people, or 77% of the population, were still facing high levels of acute food insecurity, while more than 730,000 people had been displaced since the ceasefire. The health system remains critically degraded. The UK government’s June 2026 bulletin said at least 94% of Gaza’s hospitals are damaged or destroyed and only about 2,000 hospital beds remain across the Strip. UNICEF’s mid-2026 update said 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.1 million people were displaced and that access restrictions continued to disrupt humanitarian delivery, including healthcare, water, sanitation, and protection services. OCHA also reported continued movement restrictions, new displacement, and rising risks to food, water, shelter, and sanitation across Gaza in July 2026.

A July 2025 Science Advances study using NASA GRACE/GRACE-FO satellite data found unprecedented continental terrestrial water storage loss since 2002, with drying areas expanding by about twice the size of California each year and clustering into four major Northern Hemisphere drying regions. The study reported that groundwater depletion accounts for 68% of water-storage loss in non-glaciated regions and that continental freshwater losses now contribute more to sea-level rise than the ice sheets, underscoring a major long-term shift in Earth’s water balance. The same study concluded that since 2002, 75% of the global population in 101 countries has experienced freshwater losses, indicating broad exposure across North America, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, China, Southeast Asia, northern Canada, and northern Russia. NASA’s GRACE-FO materials also note that Earth’s total freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has stayed low since then, consistent with an acceleration in drying around 2014–2015. Recent reporting in 2025 has continued to highlight the severity of the trend, including a review of GRACE satellite studies that describes accelerating terrestrial water storage losses and persistent groundwater depletion. The available evidence supports treating this as a worsening global freshwater-security crisis affecting agriculture, sanitation, food systems, and economic stability.

Iran’s water crisis remained severe and deepened through late 2025 and into 2026, driven by a multi-year drought, falling rainfall, depleted reservoirs, and long-term groundwater overuse. Reporting in late 2025 described Iran’s sixth consecutive year of drought, rainfall as much as 40%–45% below long-term averages, and Tehran’s main water-supply dams falling to around 10%–12% of capacity, with Amir Kabir Dam reported near 8% in November 2025. The crisis is affecting cities, farms, and industrial users at the same time. Recent reporting says officials warned Tehran could face water rationing or even evacuation if rainfall did not improve, while at least 19 dams were reported near depletion or dry in late 2025 and protests followed in December 2025 and January 2026 over worsening living conditions. Analysts also continue to describe Iran as one of the world’s most water-stressed countries, with agriculture consuming the vast majority of water, widespread groundwater depletion, and land subsidence in major basins and urban areas.

Uzbekistan remains under severe water stress, but recent UN reporting indicates the country has made measurable progress in water-use efficiency. UN-Water’s 2026 case study says water stress fell from 169% in 2017 to 122% in 2021, while total freshwater withdrawals declined from 58.9 billion cubic meters to 42.5 billion cubic meters over the same period. UN-Water also says Uzbekistan should be considered water-stressed at the national level, while rural access to safely managed drinking water remains much weaker than urban access, at 77.7% versus 98.6% in 2024. The crisis is still driven by structural factors: heavy reliance on transboundary rivers, climate pressure, and aging irrigation systems. Recent reporting says around 80% of Uzbekistan’s water resources originate outside the country, and agriculture consumes roughly 80% to 90% of withdrawals, leaving crops, rural livelihoods, and food security highly exposed to shortages. Recent developments also show active government response, including canal reconstruction, irrigation upgrades, and national water-saving reforms aimed at large-scale efficiency gains by 2030.

The Colorado River crisis remains severe and is worsening, with the U.S. government finalizing a two-year plan on August 21, 2026 that cuts water deliveries to Arizona, California, and Nevada by about 21% in 2027 and 2028, with the possibility of even deeper reductions later in the decade if reservoir conditions deteriorate further. The plan imposes no mandatory cuts on the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming, but the river system remains under intense stress from a nearly three-decade drought, overuse, and unusually weak inflows. Recent reporting and federal data show the basin’s major reservoirs are at historically low levels. Reuters reported that Lake Mead and Lake Powell hit record lows in August 2026, while the U.S. Department of the Interior said the Colorado River Basin is in its 27th year of historic drought and that the basin’s two largest reservoirs were approaching historically low levels, with system storage around 34% of capacity. The crisis affects water supplies for about 40 million people, irrigation across millions of acres of farmland, hydropower generation, and growing urban/industrial demand across the U.S. Southwest and parts of Mexico.

Cuba’s water crisis remains severe and closely tied to fuel and electricity shortages. In late September and early October 2026, Reuters reported that many households in Havana were going without running water for days or weeks, while blackouts regularly exceeded 24 hours and disrupted pumping systems that depend on electric power. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said around 3.5 million people are affected by water shortages, and Reuters noted that nearly 90% of Havana’s water infrastructure depends on electric-powered pumps. Recent reporting and humanitarian updates show the crisis is affecting multiple regions, not just the capital. Cuban authorities cited shortages in Havana, Artemisa, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, and Holguín, while local officials said more than 577,000 people in Havana faced water-supply difficulties in September 2026. Humanitarian assessments in 2026 also warned that fuel shortages are interrupting pumping stations, treatment plants, water trucks, and distribution cycles, with roughly one million people reliant on water trucking and an estimated 33% of the population lacking safe water services earlier in the year. Public health risks are rising as unsafe water collection and repeated outages worsen sanitation and increase the spread of waterborne and viral illnesses.

Indonesia’s drought and water stress crisis remains severe and is still affecting large parts of the country, with dry conditions expected to persist through October 2026 and El Niño risk extending into early 2027. The national weather agency said 562 of 699 seasonal zones, or about 80.4%, had entered the dry season by late September 2026, with low rainfall expected to continue in southern Sumatra, southern Kalimantan, parts of Sulawesi, southern Papua, Java, and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Recent reporting shows the crisis is already disrupting water access and agriculture. BMKG recorded 306 observation points with more than 60 consecutive rainless days by early August 2026, including Bantul in Yogyakarta with 90 straight days without rain, while another report said Bantul later reached 131 consecutive rainless days. West Java alone reported drought across 207 villages and urban neighborhoods in 95 districts, affecting about 214,000 people and prompting the distribution of 2.2 million liters of clean water to roughly 27,000 people. Government response operations had been carried out in 492 locations nationwide by August 5, 2026, including 105 rice-field locations covering 22,210 hectares.

Sri Lanka’s drought has deepened through late August and September 2026, with officials reporting that water deliveries were needed for nearly 72,000 people across seven districts and that some small tanks had fallen to about 10% capacity. Disaster-management reporting also said more than 169,000 people were affected across 10 districts, while other reports put the number at 115,586 people across seven districts, showing that the crisis remains widespread and rapidly evolving. The drought is hitting both drinking water and agriculture. Reuters reported rainfall deficits of 85% to 100% below long-term averages in some key farming districts, and local reporting said crop damage in Kurunegala alone reached 19,388 acres with more than 22,000 farmers affected. The most affected areas reported so far include Monaragala, Matale, Batticaloa, Ampara, Polonnaruwa, Hambantota, Ratnapura, Badulla, Vavuniya, and Anuradhapura, while the government has allocated 4.8 billion rupees for water distribution.

Europe’s water scarcity problem has intensified in 2026, with drought and heat lowering river, reservoir, soil, and groundwater levels across multiple regions. Reuters reported on July 23, 2026 that climate change is exacerbating this year’s drought, disrupting shipping, farming, and industry in countries including Romania and Greece, while the Netherlands declared a water shortage and seven Greek islands declared drought emergencies to protect supplies. CNN also reported that the Dutch government announced an official water deficit on July 17, 2026, raising its drought response to Level 2. The crisis is no longer confined to southern Europe. Recent reporting says low water levels on the Rhine and Danube have reached record lows in some areas, affecting shipping, tourism, and energy production across central and eastern Europe, with Hungary and Romania reportedly shutting down nuclear reactors that rely on Danube cooling water. Euronews reported on June 29, 2026 that Cyprus remains the EU’s most extreme case, using 72% of its freshwater resources annually and up to 92% in summer, while Malta uses 33% annually and several Mediterranean countries remain in the EU’s warning zone. The European Environment Agency has previously said water scarcity affects a large share of EU land and population, and that climate change is likely to make shortages more frequent and severe.

Fuel prices across sub-Saharan Africa remain under intense pressure after the 2026 surge in oil, gas, fertilizer, and shipping costs linked to the Middle East war and broader supply disruption. The IMF said these shocks tightened financial conditions in fuel-importing countries, pushed regional growth down to 4.3% for 2026, and lifted expected median inflation to 5.0% by year-end. Reuters reported sharp price increases in Ghana, Malawi, South Africa, and Nigeria in April and September 2026, with additional upward pressure still visible in early October. In Ghana, petrol rose about 15% and diesel about 19% in the April pricing window; Malawi raised petrol 34% and diesel 35%; South Africa cut its fuel levy briefly in April and still faced another round of large October increases; and Nigeria saw petrol near 1,400 naira per litre in Lagos and Abuja, with some northern stations charging 1,500 naira and diesel above 2,000 naira. The crisis is affecting transport, food costs, farm inputs, and household budgets, especially in fuel-importing economies. Reuters and the IMF said higher fuel and freight costs are worsening living costs and trade balances, while some countries have also seen shortages, diesel stock-outs, and protests over rising fuel prices.

Pacific Island countries continue to face a severe water security crisis driven by drought, saltwater intrusion, contamination, and fragile water infrastructure. UNDP says communities across Pacific Island countries are still grappling with limited access to safe drinking water, and that climate change is intensifying the problem through rising sea levels, prolonged droughts, and extreme weather that threaten freshwater sources and increase groundwater salinity. The Pacific Community (SPC) also reported in February 2024 that Pacific Island countries met to discuss water scarcity, underscoring that water remains scarce in many parts of the region and that rising sea levels are threatening freshwater supplies. The crisis is especially acute in low-lying atoll states such as Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands, where small freshwater lenses, limited storage, and high exposure to drought and storm surge make even short dry spells disruptive. A World Bank review found that Pacific water systems are also weakened by pollution, overpumping, and high leakage in urban pipe networks, while inadequate sanitation and waste disposal can be a major hazard to water quality. In Papua New Guinea and parts of Fiji and other island states, population growth, urban drift, and ageing infrastructure further strain supply and raise the risk of service interruptions.

Recent sources suggest the Gobi desertification crisis remains serious, but the latest available reporting does not support the old claim that the desert is still expanding by 3,600 km² per year. Instead, newer coverage indicates China’s Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program has slowed desert spread in some areas, with one source saying the Gobi was shrinking by more than 2,000 km² per year in 2022, and recent Chinese reporting says desertified and sandy land areas continue to decline. The problem still affects northern China and southern Mongolia, where desertification is linked to overgrazing, drought, soil erosion, and land degradation. Recent reporting says more than 70% of Mongolia’s territory is affected by desertification, and a new national assessment released in August 2026 said 81.9% of Mongolia’s territory has been affected to some degree, with 0.9% classified as very severe, 6.2% severe, 42.9% moderate, and 31.9% slight degradation. China and Mongolia are also cooperating on monitoring, early warning, sapling transfers, and restoration work to reduce dust storms and protect agriculture and grazing land.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s largest electricity access crisis, with the region still home to roughly 85% to 86% of the global population without electricity in 2024. Recent reporting puts the global total without electricity at about 655 million in 2024, with roughly 563 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lacking access; the World Bank also described about 666 million people globally lacking electricity access in 2025 reporting, underscoring that progress remains too slow to match population growth. The crisis is concentrated in low-income and fragile states and continues to affect households, schools, clinics, and businesses through limited grid expansion, unreliable supply, load-shedding, and frequent outages even where connections exist. The World Bank and the International Energy Agency both warn that electrification progress in the region is not keeping up with demographic growth, and the IEA projects that without faster action, Sub-Saharan Africa will still account for about 85% of the world’s people without electricity by 2030. The largest deficits remain concentrated in a small number of countries, especially Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia, which repeatedly rank among the top access-deficit countries. Recent World Bank and IEA reporting also indicates that 18 of the 20 countries with the largest electricity access deficits are in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the region’s rural access gap remains especially severe.