Reclaiming water’s role in preventing disasters
In the face of escalating climate change threats, managing water resources is crucial for reducing disaster risks and adapting to climate change. Over 90% of disasters are water-related, such as floods, droughts, and storms, resulting in significant economic losses, exceeding $550 billion globally in 2024 alone, with the potential for higher accurate figures. Despite this, water management is often sidelined in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) planning. A paradigm shift is needed that places water resource management at the centre of long-term DRR strategies to protect lives, ecosystems, and livelihoods.
Putting water first in disaster risk strategies
While water-related disasters impact communities worldwide, effective DRR must integrate water management to mitigate immediate threats and build long-term resilience. Effective water management involves strategic alignment with the Rio Conventions, which address the interconnected challenges of climate change, desertification and biodiversity loss and other global frameworks such as the Sendai Framework. These conventions and frameworks guide countries on sustainable development, risk reduction, planning, and water management, serving as binding elements. The Sendai Framework, for example, emphasises understanding disaster risk across all dimensions. Integrated water resource management coordinates the development of water, land, and related resources to maximize socio-economic welfare without compromising ecosystems or human lives.
The global DRR strategic pillars linked to Rio conventions for integrating water management are shown in the table below:
Integrating water across DRR pillars: Examples from the field
| Sendai Framework | Link to Water Management & Rio Conventions | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Understanding Disaster Risk | Water-Climate Data Integration: UNFCCC (climate risk for floods/droughts), UNCCD (land-water nexus). | Senegal enhances resilience for vulnerable households by combining water/soil conservation, weather-index insurance, and livelihood diversification to combat drought, flooding, and salinization-supported by government-backed risk financing. |
| 2. Strengthening Disaster Risk Governance | Risk-Informed Water Governance: UNFCCC (NAPs/NDCs), UNCBD (ecosystem-based policies). | Strengthening risk-informed water governance in Thailand's Chao Phraya basin through NAPs and ecosystem-based adaptation, integrating green-grey infrastructure to address dual flood-drought risks, benefiting 62,000 households and enhancing resilience for 25M downstream inhabitants. |
| 3. Investing in DRR for Resilience | Eco-DRR & Catchment Protection: UNCBD (forests/wetlands), UNCCD (watershed rehab). | GCF project in Kenya invests in Eco-DRR by restoring rangelands, strengthening decentralized governance, and boosting climate resilience for pastoralists-through landscape planning, climate data access, and market linkages-across 11 drought-prone counties. |
| 4. Enhancing Preparedness & Recovery | Sustainable Land-Water Use: UNCCD (drought risk preparedness), UNCBD (agroecology for post-disaster recovery). | Ethiopia integrated land management and agroecological practices to boost water retention, restore degraded lands, and strengthen community resilience through climate-smart agriculture and early warning systems. |
| Cross-cutting: Community-Led Adaptation | Local Knowledge Systems: All three conventions (UNFCCC/UNCBD/UNCCD). | The SOLKAS project in the Solomon Islands leverages local knowledge to strengthen community-led adaptation. It empowers rural youth and governments to enhance resilience through traditional practices, sustainable resource management, and climate-smart policies. |
Despite progress, conventional DRR strategies often compartmentalise water management, overlooking its interconnected role in climate adaptation and disaster preparedness. A shift toward integrated water-centric DRR recognises water's ties to sustainable development and community resilience.
Six levers for water-centric resilience
A holistic approach to water management serves as a shield against water-related disasters and a catalyst for sustainable development in an era of climate change uncertainty.
To achieve this, the following strategic actions are critical:
- Policy coherence and multi-sector alignment: Strengthen vertical (national to local) and horizontal (across sectors) coordination between water, environment, agriculture, and DRR agencies. Align country climate commitments, climate risk assessments, and disaster risk reduction priorities to eliminate silos and maximize synergies.
- Thailand's Chao Phraya Basin Initiative integrates flood and drought management by aligning Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and DRR priorities, showing a paradigm shift in water governance aligned with the Rio Conventions and the Sendai Framework to create a unified approach. Aligning water strategies across the Rio Conventions enhances policy coherence, funding efficiency, and data-driven monitoring, creating a unified roadmap for disaster resilience.
- Innovative and blended financing: Traditional disaster risk reduction (DRR) funding falls far short of addressing escalating water risks, with climate adaptation receiving just 5% of global climate finance-less than $500 million from private investorsBlended finance models that combine vertical climate funds (e.g., GCF, GEF. Adaptation Fund), national disaster budgets, and private capital are critical to bridge this gap. Blended models like Climate Resilience and Adaptation Finance & Technology Transfer Facility (CRAFT), the world's first private-sector adaptation investment fund, prove that private capital can be unlocked for water-DRR-when structured to mitigate risk and align with national climate goals (NDCs, NAPs).
- FAIR Data and interoperability: Using hydrological, meteorological, socio-economic and land-use data for risk tracking and management using the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principle and creating a cross-domain inter-operability ecosystem. The EU's WorldFAIR Project provides excellent case studies on how disaster-related data can be standardized and shared across domains to enhance disaster resilience and cross-domain interoperability for risk assessments and loss and damage calculations.
- Transboundary governance, legislation and regulatory framework: Weak water laws and regulations exacerbate disasters. Strong governance cuts disaster risks by 30-50%. Ethiopia's GEF-funded Sustainable Land Management Program enforces basin-level regulations, reducing upstream-downstream conflicts and land degradation. Countries must adopt integrated water-DRR laws aligned with NDCs and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).
- Local empowerment and indigenous knowledge: Top-down DRR often fails without community ownership. DRR must prioritize youth engagement, traditional early warning systems, and participatory water governance. Disaster resilience starts with communities. By centring Indigenous knowledge, empowering local leaders, and ensuring participatory governance, DRR becomes more effective, equitable, and sustainable.
Rethinking DRR begins with water
To build a resilient future, we must redefine DRR by placing water management at its core. Integrating water management with the Rio Conventions enhances resilience by establishing feedback loops and resource flows that support governance, ecosystems, and infrastructure for effective DRR. This integrated approach encourages synergies between sustainable development and DRR, underscoring the interconnected role of water management in safeguarding communities and ecosystems from future climate risk. Harnessing these synergies can fundamentally transform resilience-building efforts, ensuring effective, equitable, and sustainable outcomes for now and in the future.
Dr. Bapon Fakhruddin is a leading expert on climate resilience. He has over 22 years of experience advising governments and organisations worldwide on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. As a hydrometeorologist, his speciality is in climate risk assessment, early warning systems, community resilience, and water security. Dr. Fakhruddin is currently leading the Water Sector at the Green Climate Fund. He oversees climate investments in vulnerable countries worldwide to support water security and early warning project origination. He serves on international expert committees, Chair, Board Member and Professor such as the International Science Council, CODATA, Earth GEO, WMO, and lends his expertise to advance national resilience agendas for governments in LDCs and SIDS.