Integrated Water Resource Management Under Climate Change

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) offers a holistic framework for balancing the competing needs of society, economy and the environment in a context of climatic uncertainty. Under accelerating changes in precipitation patterns, temperature and extreme events, IWRM promotes coordinated planning across sectors—agriculture, energy, urban development and ecosystems—to enhance resilience and equity. Key elements include adaptive governance, stakeholder participation, conjunctive use of surface and groundwater, and incorporation of environmental flow requirements. By linking supply- and demand-side strategies—such as sustainable abstraction limits, water-use efficiency measures and nature-based solutions—IWRM supports long-term water security, ecosystem health and socioeconomic development at basin, national and transboundary scales.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have established safe and just limits for freshwater provision by defining thresholds for surface and groundwater that meet human needs while safeguarding ecosystems. Analyses of river basins worldwide reveal that many regions already exceed these boundaries, necessitating both demand-side transformations (for example, enhanced water efficiency and reuse) and supply-side measures (such as managed aquifer recharge) to maintain basic service levels. In parallel, global assessments integrating hydrological and water-quality models demonstrate that future pollution—particularly nitrogen loading—could triple the number of river sub-basins facing combined quantity and quality-induced scarcity by mid-century. This work highlights the urgent need to integrate water-quality management within broader resource planning to achieve sustainable development targets.

Integrated Water Resource Management Under Climate Change publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in integrated water resource management under climate change across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM): A participatory process aiming to coordinate water, land and related resources across sectors to maximise economic and social welfare without compromising ecosystems.

Safe and Just Earth System Boundaries: Quantitative thresholds of resource use that ensure basic human needs are met and ecological integrity is maintained.

Blue Water: Freshwater in rivers, lakes and aquifers available for human and ecosystem use.

Environmental Flow Requirements: The quantity, timing and quality of water flows needed to sustain freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide.

Water Scarcity: A condition where demand for freshwater exceeds available supply or where poor quality limits usability, often expressed through indices of shortage and stress.

References

1. Living within the safe and just Earth system boundaries for blue water. Nature Sustainability (2023).
2. A triple increase in global river basins with water scarcity due to future pollution. Nature Communications (2024).
3. Reassessing the projections of the World Water Development Report. npj Clean Water (2019).
4. A global assessment of the impact of climate change on water scarcity. Climatic Change (2013).