Elin Adolfsson, Policy Consultant, Global Commission on the Economics of Water
In countries where the economy is highly dependent on agriculture, water scarcity isn’t just an environmental issue — it’s a major economic one. And young people are hardest-hit.
As the largest demographic globally, youth are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of changing water availability. For example, in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, where agriculture contributes to more than 10% of GDP, and employs up to 30% of the workforce, severe water stress intensified by a hydrological cycle out of balance is a big challenge. With green (rain-fed) and blue (surface/groundwater) resources both under pressure, employment opportunities both present and future will be negatively impacted.
But it’s not just farming. Sectors like energy, manufacturing, and tourism — which also depend on water — are equally affected. Even countries with currently low levels of water scarcity like Brazil, Colombia and Tajikistan, are seeing pressure on the hydroelectric power sector due to more frequent droughts and unstable rainfall patterns. This creates a need to create new job opportunities, and associated training and education, for young people to contribute to the solution space.
While more research is needed to fully understand the relationship between local to global hydrological cycle disruptions, including scarcity, and youth unemployment, we know for sure that stressed hydrological conditions constitute an additional risk to employment for young people and future generations.
Over the next decade, an unprecedented 1.2 billion young people in low- and middle-income countries will enter the workforce while only 420 million jobs are expected to be created. Therefore, creating jobs across the economy that contribute to stabilizing the hydrological cycle represents a win-win both for economic resilience and sustainability.
The Commission has published a new policy brief: Intergenerational Intersections and the Economics of Water. Among its key recommendations are:
- At the farm level, invest in green water enhancement-related skills and support the transition towards sustainable practices in agriculture for a new generation. Invest in education and training focused on rainfed agriculture, land restoration, green water management techniques and sustainable irrigation technologies and governance.
- Beyond the farm, promote access to and shape vocational training and higher education to ensure a workforce across the economy well-prepared to safeguard the balance of the hydrological cycle, from urban and land use planning to new growth sectors.
- Digital tools for water resilience. Advocate for digital literacy programs and initiatives that enable youth to contribute to water data infrastructure and utilize AI for more efficient and equitable water management.
- Youth-led intergenerational water policies. Advocate for water management decisions that prioritize future generations even if they involve trade-offs in the short term, to secure water resources for future generations and ensure long-term economic stability.
Water is not just about the environment: it’s about economic opportunity, equity, and resilience. When we drain wetlands, degrade soils, or cut down forests providing rain to communities downwind, we transfer risk, silently and irreversibly, to younger and future generations.
Youth are on the frontlines of this mission and must be at the centre of this transformation at every scale. Rooted in their communities and collaborating with stakeholders across generations, youth hold the potential of bridging local action with global influence, ensuring long-term prosperity now and in the future.
