Map: Water and Risk

Excessive Withdrawal of Renewable Water Resources - Philippe Rekacewicz

This map pinpoints places where renewable water resources are being depleted in excess, contributing to an increasing risk of drought and severe water crises. As we can see, these places exist across the world, but they are concentrated in the Middle East. The depletion of water stock may stem from a variety of reasons: pressures from a growing population, industry demands for resource extraction (often involves the use of large amounts of water), lack of large water stocks in the first place. Of particular concern is the severe lack of water stock in the Levant, where the rivers that supply much of the region's water cross multiple international borders, and competition over limited resources threatens to lead to increasing regional conflict.