Water Security Under Climate Change: Challenges and Solutions Across 43 Countries

Abstract

Different countries face significant challenges in managing water-related natural hazards, such as floods and shortages, while ensuring adequate water quality and quantity to satisfy human needs and preserve ecosystems. Climate change projections exacerbate this situation by intensifying the hydrological cycle, resulting in substantial changes in precipitation patterns, evapotranspiration, and groundwater storage. This study reviews water security challenges across 43 countries, drawing on 128 articles obtained from databases including EBSCOHOST, Scopus and ResearchGate, as well as specific journals. Key search terms included “water security”, “water security and climate change”, “water scarcity”, “water risk index”, “water balance”, “water assessment”, and “land use and land cover change”. The analysis reveals the main water security issues present in 43 countries (flash floods, drought and water quality), and the response measures identified these challenges to water security. All the countries studied face one or more critical water-related effects. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Mexico were identified as the most severely affected, dealing with a combination of water scarcity, flooding, and water pollution. The most suggested strategies for improving water security include sustainable urban planning, improving consumption efficiency, strategic land-use planning, applying technologies to predict availability of water resources and planning according to variations in resource availability over time. In addition, other general actions include enhancing water storage infrastructure, improving consumption efficiency and adopting sustainable urban planning.