The Economics of Water

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The Economics of Water

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Preface by the Co-Chairs of innovations, capacity-building and investments - and evaluate them not in terms of short-run costs and benefits but for how they can catalyse long-run, economy-wide benefits.

Our report, The Economics of Water: Valuing the Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good, is inspired by, and builds on, the game-changing Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity. We hope that the trilogy provides a pathway for integrated thinking and action on these fundamentally interrelated challenges of sustainability.

The Commission submits this report to help advance new thinking and actions under the multilateral water agenda, including the important work of the UN Special Envoy for Water and that being pursued under the UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, and the initiatives leading to the UN Water Conference 2026.

We also call for water’s critical role, and the need for collective action to restore a stable hydrological cycle, to be recognised in deliberations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). As Co-Chairs, we are grateful to our colleagues on the Commission, whose wisdom and diverse experiences were integral to our work.

We also benefitted greatly from insights from experts from across the public and private sectors, academia, and civil society.

We also thank the Government of the Netherlands as the convener of our Commission, for having entrusted us with this vital task, and the OECD for their invaluable support.

The Commission’s recommendations are only the beginning of a new journey. It must be a journey that involves continuous dialogue, and that makes inclusivity an action, not just a goal. One that involves all voices including youth, women, marginalised communities, and the Indigenous Peoples on the frontlines of water conservation. One that catalyses a new understanding among leaders and mayors, civil society activists and social scientists, and that motivates businesses to do well by contributing to the public good. A journey that ultimately creates a new social contract: to achieve justice and dignity everywhere and sustains the benefits of nature’s ecosystems for humanity.

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