Global vulnerable basins suffering social-ecological impacts of water scarcity

The UN water conference, convened in March 2023, calls for governing water and addressing climate change in tandem to co-achieve related sustainable development goals. However, the actual (water scarcity under current climate conditions) and potential (potential water scarcity under climate change) impacts of water scarcity on social-ecological impacts are rarely assessed. Herein, we developed a framework that integrates water scarcity and climate sensitivity to assess the socio-ecological vulnerability of global basins. We found that basins that already experience water scarcity are exhibit a disproportionate magnitude of climate sensitivity, which exacerbated the challenges associated with water resources management. We identified the vulnerable basins by integrating socio-ecological vulnerability and found that the most vulnerable basins are mainly located in developing countries. Therefore, the urgent international cooperation for reducing vulnerabilities of water scarcity is required. Measures involved in current Integrated Water Resources Management and Climate Change Adaptation may not be enough to alleviate the water crisis and to adapt to climate change in these vulnerable basins. We thus urge policy makers in regions suffering vulnerable water scarcity to integrate both approaches to manage water and climate in tandem and synergistically achieve related sustainable goals.