World Ecology Day

The 2025 Ecological Threat Report (ETR) is a comprehensive, data-driven global assessment of ecological risks . It covers 3,125 sub-national areas in 172 countries and territories, representing more than 99 per cent of the world’s population. It measures four interlocking threats: water risk, food insecurity, the impact of natural events, and demographic pressure. The main finding of this year’s report is the unexpected and sometimes divergent relationships between water and conflict. On the one hand, it finds that conflict death rates are 50 per cent higher in places where water stress is rising owing to heightened rainfall seasonality. On the other, it highlights how there have been no interstate wars fought over water in the modern era. In this regard, the hundreds of active freshwater treaties around the world demonstrate that strategic cooperation is effective when the downside risks are well-known , similar to nuclear non-proliferation treaties. Precipitation patterns are shi...

Between 2019 and 2024, Eritrea recorded the largest improvement in water risk of any low-income country in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2019, it held the fourth worst water risk score globally; by 2024 it had improved to 25th. Although still classified as high risk, sustained government initiatives have expanded water access nationwide and reduced some exposure to water scarcity . In recent decades, access to safe drinking water has risen dramatically, from just 13% of the population in the early 1990s to nearly 85 per cent in 2024. More than half of schools now have access to drinking water and sanitation facilities, and infrastructure investment has expanded the number of dams from 138 in 1993 to nearly 800 today. A further 17 dam projects have been planned for the country, demonstrating the government’s continued commitment to improving water security . Despite these new dams, Eritrea remains heavily dependent on groundwater, which supplies freshwater for nearly 80 per cent of the popul...

  Issues related to water represent the key ecological challenge facing humanity , as from them flow a host of resource scarcity concerns. The ETR’s water risk indicator is defined as the reliability of access to safe drinking water, combining two measures: the proportion of the population with access to clean water and the frequency of extreme monthly rainfall deficits compared with historical averages. This approach captures both long-term levels of water access and susceptibility to short-term fluctuations in water availability. Water stress emerges from both environmental and human factors. Ecological conditions limit water availability through factors such as insufficient rainfall, seasonal variability in rainfall, or the occurrence of floods and droughts. These factors restrict communities’ capacities to meet water demands for agriculture, households, and manufacturing industries. Human and economic pressures can also give rise to scarcity, often due to inadequate water mana...