Trend · rank 187 of 250

Freshwater stress & transboundary water

Overuse and changing rainfall are tightening freshwater supply in many regions, constraining agriculture and industry and increasing the use of shared rivers and aquifers as instruments of pressure between states.

Strategic InfrastructureFood, water & naturewaterclimateconflict

Second pass: Carried forward from the first pass, where it was Water stress & transboundary water. Held by all three panel models.

Sensitivity and network position

Rank
187of 250
Sensitivity
10.0rank 105
Breadth
2of 20 scenarios High or above
PageRank
21.3rank 203
Eigenvector
0.3
Betweenness
1.2
Links
7trends at Moderate similarity or above
Composite
14.3

Attention over three years

How much this trend is read about on Wikipedia and searched for on Google, week by week, set against the typical trend in the list so that what moves every trend at once is taken out. 100 is this trend's own three-year average. The score measures public attention, which is not the same as the strength of the force: a trend can deepen unnoticed, and a news event can lift attention for a fortnight.

Now
100
Over a year
+12%Steady
Over three years
−8%
Peak
17610 Mar 2024
Sources
Bothagreement 0.28
Coverage
17languages · 55 nations

Trailing 4-week average. 100 is this trend’s three-year average.

By language

Wikipedia reading in each language edition where the trend’s pages are read enough to measure (17 of 28). Share is of all the readers counted.

LanguageShareNowOver a yearThree years
English66%114+23%
Arabic7%69+8%
Spanish6%73+6%
Hindi5%96−8%
German4%91−30%
French3%98+20%
Russian3%85−17%
Japanese2%127−7%
Persian1%36−74%
Portuguese1%81−10%
Turkish0%81−50%
Dutch0%89−10%
Tamil0%194+127%
Ukrainian0%62+20%
Korean0%53−43%
Indonesian0%144−28%
Vietnamese0%228+25%

By country

Google search interest over the three years, as a share of each country’s searching. 100 is the nation where interest is highest. The search terms are English, which favours countries that search in English.

South Africa

Australia

United States

India

Pakistan

Singapore

Ghana

Canada

China

Kenya

Philippines

South Korea

100

47

47

45

45

42

41

37

37

37

36

35

The 12 highest of 55 nations with a reading.

By region and G20 member

Attention to this trend inside each place, from Google searches made in its countries and Wikipedia reading in the languages mostly read there, averaged where both exist. Each line compares the trend with its own past in that place; the lines do not compare places.

Regions

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
North AmericaGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in English110−1%+30%+0%
EuropeGoogle in 6 countries + Wikipedia in German, French, Dutch127+1%+33%+49%
Indo-PacificGoogle in 7 countries + Wikipedia in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian112+7%−14%+10%
South AsiaGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in Hindi, Tamil118+25%+30%+29%
Gulf and Middle EastGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in Persian, Arabic, Turkish127+2%+96%+7%
AfricaGoogle in 1 country53−66%−18%−34%
Latin America and CaribbeanGoogle in 4 countries + Wikipedia in Spanish, Portuguese71−18%−13%−32%
Russia and EurasiaWikipedia in Russian, Ukrainian80+4%−12%−44%

G20 members

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
AustraliaGoogle86+21%−27%−3%
BrazilGoogle + Wikipedia in Portuguese84−11%−16%−8%
CanadaGoogle69−36%−10%−37%
FranceGoogle + Wikipedia in French104−5%+24%+11%
GermanyGoogle + Wikipedia in German137+14%+28%+99%
IndiaGoogle + Wikipedia in Hindi, Tamil127+35%+42%+44%
IndonesiaGoogle + Wikipedia in Indonesian109+21%−26%+14%
JapanGoogle + Wikipedia in Japanese138+5%−26%+74%
South KoreaGoogle + Wikipedia in Korean68−12%−30%−55%
MexicoGoogle36−26%−28%−77%
RussiaWikipedia in Russian85+10%−17%−40%
South AfricaGoogle53−66%−18%−34%
TürkiyeGoogle + Wikipedia in Turkish168+22%+69%+60%
United KingdomGoogle161+42%+79%+81%
United StatesGoogle + Wikipedia in English116+3%+37%+8%

Relation to each scenario

A trend relates to a scenario when it changes how likely the scenario is, how hard it lands, or is itself sharply changed by it. Each score is the median of three scores given separately by the members of the model panel.

RelationScenarioFamily
5 · Very highTwo breadbasket failures trigger a food availability crisis S06Energy, climate and resources
5 · Very highA validated farming package raises water-efficient output S16 ↗Energy, climate and resources
1 · Very lowHybrid coercion ends in an infrastructure blackout S04Geopolitical and security
1 · Very lowA major disaster disables the national economic core S07Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedCritical trade divides into rival blocs S01Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA global funding seizure reaches sovereign balance sheets S02Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA regional war closes a globally important sea route S03Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedA disputed transfer of power breaks effective government S05Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedAn AI deployment step causes abrupt labour displacement S08Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA cryptographic breakthrough invalidates digital trust S09Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA novel respiratory pathogen exceeds health surge capacity S10Health
0 · Not relatedA creditor agreement releases fiscal capacity S11 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA cross-regional market access compact redirects investment S12 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA great-power agreement lowers economic security barriers S13 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedA verified Middle East settlement restores access S14 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedCheap firm clean power becomes available at scale S15 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedAI-directed research produces a reproducible discovery step S17 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA public service platform reaches inclusive operation S18 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedAffordable preventive treatments reduce chronic illness S19 ↗Health
0 · Not relatedA live outbreak proves rapid distributed pandemic defence S20 ↗Health

Similarity = 0.3 × shared tags (Jaccard) + 0.3 × likeness of scenario profiles (cosine) + 0.3 × likeness of names and descriptions (TF-IDF cosine) + 0.1 if in the same capability domain, cut into seven levels at 0.12, 0.22, 0.33, 0.45, 0.58, 0.72. Shown at Moderate and above.

SimilarityTrendThemeRank
3 · ModerateWater treatment & desalinationEnergy, networks & climate resilience89
3 · ModerateFood storage & cold chainsFood, water & nature110
3 · ModerateDams, reservoirs & flood defenceEnergy, networks & climate resilience137
3 · ModerateClimate change & physical riskEnergy, networks & climate resilience138
3 · ModerateAgricultural soil degradationFood, water & nature148
3 · ModerateAgricultural technologyFood, water & nature171
3 · ModerateBiodiversity & ecosystem lossFood, water & nature181