Research and innovation priorities for adapting humanitarian WASH to climate change
As the climate crisis deepens, its impacts are being felt most acutely by those already facing humanitarian emergencies. From prolonged droughts to devastating floods, climate-related shocks are reshaping the landscape of humanitarian water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) operations, and they’re doing so with increasing intensity and unpredictability.
Half the world’s population already experiences severe water scarcity for part of the year. In fragile contexts, this water scarcity - exacerbated by erratic rainfall, rising demand, and environmental degradation - can be catastrophic.
At the same time, extreme weather is damaging already overstretched infrastructure. Sanitation systems are overwhelmed by floods and displacement. Warmer temperatures and poor drainage conditions accelerate the spread of disease. In the face of this, humanitarian WASH services are struggling to keep pace, and particularly for vulnerable groups like women, children, and people with disabilities.
A need for change
To respond to this global challenge, we partnered with Oxfam and the ADAPT Initiative to better understand how climate change is transforming and affecting humanitarian WASH systems. This new report presents findings from their extensive global consultation that identified critical research and innovation opportunities to strengthen humanitarian WASH systems against climate challenges. It draws on comprehensive literature reviews, insights from leading WASH practitioners worldwide and data from nine crisis-affected countries to pinpoint 11 actionable priorities.
These priorities focus on improving water security, strengthening sanitation infrastructure and enhancing public health responses in crisis-affected regions. The findings reveal an urgent need for climate-resilient WASH solutions that both tackle immediate vulnerabilities and build resilience against future climate shocks.
Building on our previous WASH gap analysis and WASH research agenda reports, this report provides an important contribution to the broader climate adaptation conversation. By highlighting the critical intersection between WASH, climate change and public health, we offer a clear agenda for research, collaboration and innovation.
The research and innovation agenda for adapting humanitarian WASH to climate change
The report highlights 11 priority areas where research and innovation can play a significant role in transforming humanitarian WASH response to climate change:
- Water reuse and conservation: Developing scalable technologies and practices to conserve and recycle greywater in drought-prone regions.
- Understanding disruption pathways: Mapping how climate change directly and indirectly affects WASH access in humanitarian crises.
- Community motivation: Identifying the factors that encourage communities to adopt and sustain climate-adaptive WASH behaviours.
- Early warning integration: Improving how disease surveillance and early warning systems inform humanitarian WASH response.
- WASH in low-resource settings: Testing WASH management approaches that can withstand climate impacts in fragile environments.
- Coping strategies: Documenting how communities adapt their water use during extreme events like floods and droughts.
- Indigenous knowledge: Integrating local and traditional knowledge into humanitarian WASH programming.
- Performance under pressure: Evaluating how current WASH approaches hold up in climate-affected disease transmission contexts.
- Behavioural adaptation: Studying how changing climates influence hygiene behaviours and what drives positive change.
- Watershed mapping: Creating simple, low-cost mapping tools for use in humanitarian settings.
- Affordable desalination: Innovating low-cost desalination technologies suitable for household and community levels.
A call to action
We urge researchers, innovators, practitioners and funders in the humanitarian WASH space to engage with these priorities and identify how they can contribute – because the climate crisis cannot wait.
We hope that this report provides a comprehensive, evidence-based framework to guide the sector’s response, ensuring that humanitarian WASH efforts are equipped to meet the demands of a rapidly changing climate while continuing to serve those most in need.
- Read the full report
- Learn more about the findings from the report by joining our online session at World Water Week on 26 August at 14.00-15.00 BST. It is free to join if you first register for the free online pass to the event.