Water security and human development: The role of size, footprint and governance

Article Article scientifique Article Water security and human development: The role of size, footprint and governance eng 2026-09 author Bolognesi Thomas 0000-0003-1613-5789 827426 author Marti Giulia 806138 author Giuliani Gregory 0000-0002-1825-8865 94488 Services communs de l'Institut des sciences de l'environnement (ISECO) 109038 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2026.109038 0921-8009 https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0921800926001230 The latest planetary boundaries assessment underscores that freshwater systems are facing escalating risks. At the same time, they remain a priority on the political agenda, as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals. Water security offers a comprehensive framework for disentangling the complex relationships between freshwater resources and human development.WS encompasses economic, environmental, and hazard dimensions, yet existing measurement approaches suffer from heterogeneity, limited comparability, and poor temporal coverage. This paper advances WS research in three ways. First, we present an original, reproducible global WS assessment at 0.5°×0.5° resolution from 2003–2019, integrating Earth observations and statistical data to capture multidimensional risks and resources. Second, we apply both weak and strong sustainability frameworks to WS, revealing substantial discrepancies in estimated security levels and threat areas, with weak sustainability systematically overestimating WS. Third, we examine how economic development and governance interact with WS at the national scale, distinguishing size and intensity effects and identifying institutional conditions that shape outcomes. Our analysis reveals that the weak sustainability approach systematically overestimates both the quality and progression of WS when compared with the strong sustainability approach, a discrepancy primarily attributable to the underlying embeddedness assumption. The mechanisms analysis highlight the non-linearities linking economic and political development to WS levels. Water Growth Institutions Earth observation Sustainability Social-ecological system Dewey 333.7-333.9 18 Institut des sciences de l'environnement 0DB false 673 Envirospace Lab 938 ISE Pôle Sciences 970b71ee-b344-4440-bc52-c9af263975d0 Living Earth Lab 941 ISE Pôle Informatique environnementale 1057 TIGERS 859 Global Resource Information Database (GRID) Ecological economics 247 1fe97400-96a8-4312-bb30-51bcd3727ff7 Article (Published version) Public 1-s2.0-S0921800926001230-main.pdf 5962808 application/pdf CC BY-4.0 e5badad299636f3d493bfeccebb6a72a2bd24fa8185bcb5df6ed3448cae16bb4 openAccess Centres et instituts / Institut des sciences de l'environnement

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Water security and human development: The role of size, footprint and governance	Ecological economics			2026	6	9

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Marti, Giulia