Happy World Water Day! A New Water Era

Amid new wars and global water bankruptcy, chaos reigns but we remain optimistic this World Water Day. Leaning into the 2026 theme of “women in water”, we celebrate young women water leaders who inspire us as well as highlight a woman-led award-winning climate AI startup.

Also amid global chaos, we find a sense of stability in China’s new 15FYP and its multi-front water resilience strategies for economic, food & energy security. Plus, we were reassured by its ambitious new targets & grand plans to prep for a new era of “Water B”.

Only two years ago on this very day, we talked about “Water for Peace”. We said then that “Water is both a threat and an asset – it can be used in war but can also be a source for cooperation and peace”. But instead of more cooperation, we’ve embarked on global tariff wars and started more wars which will only pollute the environment and spew out more emissions that will exacerbate water risks.

Even more worrying is that water, a basic human right, is now being used as a weapon – from withholding water in Gaza to the bombing of a desal plant in Iran that prompted a retaliatory hit on another plant in Bahrain – pulling away lifelines for millions of civilians.

The rules of engagement are changing; but not for the better. This is not just in geopolitics but also for water. Our water cycle is shifting into a new era of “Water B” and building resilience against this physical shift must also be a top priority.

China agrees – last week it approved the 15th Five-Year Plan (15FYP) laying out its strategic directions for 2026-2030. There is a strong self-reliance and resilience thematic with water at the core. Did you know that “water”, in all its forms (from rivers to reservoirs), was mentioned 22 times in Premier Li’s Two Sessions’ speech? Geopolitics & tariffs were only mentioned once each.

China is building multi-front resiliency for stability with the overall mantra of “preparing for the worst while striving for the best”. Stabilizing water for growth as well as food & energy production is key. How is China moving to drive more crop per drop? Has it set 2030 targets? What about “de-watering” powergen to increase its water security – would that help? It’s all there in our analysis.

Advancing faster & becoming more self-reliant must be done without sacrificing the vision of a Beautiful China plus national security & stability must be maintained at all times. To decipher direction of travel for water in the the next 5 years, we also pored through multiple guiding opinions & plans, major tasks, and news announcements during the Two Sessions and throughout 2025.

We’ve deciphered the tea leaves and distilled China’s all-out efforts to “ensure water” and “endure water shocks” into 2 Goals, 4 Directives and 8 Actions. These will not only impact the water sector but every sector which needs water as an input in its supply chain – so check out the article.

As China’s policies impact almost everything under the sun, we recommend you spend the time to deep dive into our new brief “China’s 15FYP Outlook for Water Security & Resiliency”. Don’t forget China’s policies also create “little giants” and opportunities for investments as well as adaptation financing!

China’s clearly “on it”. It’s setting its own rules of the game to shape its water future. We’re excited to see young women doing the same, forging ahead in this historically male-dominated space.

CWR itself is a woman-led organization with a woman majority team today. Through the years, we’ve seen many impressive young women walk through our doors and as the future of water will be in their hands, we asked them to reflect on their water journey so far.

For Jamie, it clicked that water was her passion when she was doing anthropological research on sea level rise in New Orleans. For Ziyang, her aha moment was realising the critical importance of the water-energy-climate nexus. It’s frustrating, Soomin laments the disparity between where the world is directing its focus versus what we’re actually facing as Yisih recognises that everything is a lot more volatile now.

On the bright side, many water & climate issues can be solved through technological advances. More and more young female entrepreneurs are making their splash these days – like HK-based Karen Wang, who is founder and CEO of Climind, a GPT for all things sustainability.

To her, the biggest challenge for climate startups isn’t building the tech but finding the right pain point to solve. We had an insightful conversation about what it takes to turn a good idea into a scalable business solution, especially to stand out in a saturated climate tech space – see our interview!

So while water risks are escalating like crazy, so are Gen Z’s ambitions to resolve them. Let their words inspire you … change is possible if there is will. We should all take Sophie’s advice to “think outside the box and be fearless”!

It’s time, follow China to embrace a new water era and elevate water to a strategic priority. As Dawn says, “if we don’t do it, water itself will ultimately determine its value and that’s going to be painful for us all”.