What is Blue Davos and why is 2026 the 'Year of Water'? Everything you need to know

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The planet’s entire water cycle, spanning oceans, atmosphere, and freshwater, is under strain.

In October 2024, rivers in the Amazon basin fell to historic low levels as Spain was experiencing the worst flooding in 30 years.

Last year saw similar extremes as the climate crisis pushed the hydrological cycle into unprecedented imbalance, making drought and flooding more intense and frequent.

Since 1900, the global land area affected by dry conditions has more than doubled, according to the OECD, impacting the availability of fresh drinking water and food production.

The World Bank estimates that almost a quarter of the global population – 1.8 billion people – are exposed to flood depths greater than 0.15 metres in a 1-in-100-year flood event, with the majority living in low- and middle-income countries.

Meanwhile the rate of ocean warming has quadrupled since the 1980s, which has cascading impacts including melting ice, rising sea levels and acidification.

We are seeing too much water in some places – floods, storms, rising seas – too little in others – droughts, scarcity, and drying rivers – and, increasingly, water that’s too polluted to use safely. What we're seeing is the Earth's water cycle is becoming increasingly out of balance.

As we enter 2026 – a 'Year of Water' that concludes with the third-ever UN Water Conference (Dec 2-4, UAE) in nearly 50 years – the world is at a critical moment when political will must finally match the scale of the crisis.

The water crisis will be high on the agenda at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, with the launch of major new initiatives that aim to move the world forward on taking action on all water systems – ocean and freshwater.

The out of balance water cycle impacts every sector, economy, and person.

Sources: Unicef; ScienceAdvances; UNESCO; ScienceAdvances; Water.org; Unicef; WMO; Geophysical Research Letters; WRI; PwC

These ‘too little, too much, and too polluted’ dynamics don't just impact water access or sanitation basic needs. With the world's hydrological cycle out of balance, instability leaves economies and businesses vulnerable to water-related shocks and stresses that impact everything from agriculture and industry, to the functioning of cities and communities.

With the overall annual economic value of water ecosystems estimated at $58 trillion, finance will be critical to unlock capital for water resilience, as the investment pipeline needed to address a global water crisis cannot be overstated. Yet, the World Bank suggests that only 2–3% of global investment in water is undertaken by private sector financing, highlighting the urgency of exploring innovative mechanisms, in tandem with appropriate valuing and risk-sharing models.

To tackle these challenges, the World Economic Forum is focusing on three key topic areas to protect freshwater: fit-for-purpose finance; basin-level partnerships; and innovation. Through a host of dialogues, thought leadership and partnership efforts, these priority action areas are showing signs of momentum.

Through Water.org's microfinance initiatives, 85 million people around the world can now turn on a tap or safely use a toilet because small, affordable loans gave them access to safe water or sanitation. Other initiatives, such as the Water Resilience Coalition, aim to grow the participation of the private sector in water-level action, modeling new models for cooperation. These examples show how water systems can be transformed through innovative approaches and multi-stakeholder collaboration. However, the complexity of the water crisis demands these ideas are scaled up, and fast.

Additionally, ocean innovation is experiencing an unprecedented moment of convergence: previously isolated forces, such as technology, capital, policy, and market demand, are now aligning in solutions. Blue economy venture capital funding has grown 7x over the last 8 years, with investment projected to reach $3 billion in 2025. Most critically, the private sector is recognizing both the risks of ocean degradation and the business opportunity in regeneration, with continued ocean degradation potentially jeopardizing up to $8.5 trillion over the next 15 years.

But investment alone is insufficient without addressing what water systems sustain: critical earth systems, food security and biodiversity.

More than 3 billion people get at least 20% of their nutrition from blue foods – fish, shellfish, algae and aquatic plants – and these sectors employ over 800 million people.

Blue foods carry a significantly lower carbon footprint than other protein sources and demand is expected to double by 2050 to meet global protein needs.

However, ocean acidification, overfishing and pollution threaten these systems along with ocean warming that intensifies tropical storms and hurricanes with huge consequences to biodiversity, economies and lives alike.

Sustainable expansion of blue food production is impossible without ocean protection and key guardrails are being put into place.

In September 2025, the High Seas Treaty was formally ratified after reaching the threshold needed to enter into force, and on 17 January became international law. It's the first legally binding agreement protecting marine life beyond national jurisdiction, covering two-thirds of ocean area previously lacking comprehensive protections.

In October 2025, the IUCN World Conservation Congress adopted a motion to protect the mesopelagic zone, or 'twilight zone' (200-1,000 metres deep), which contains 600 million metric tons of biomass and plays a critical role in climate regulation through the "biological pump" that moves carbon to ocean depths.​

The Forum's Annual Meeting 2026 will build on this momentum, convening leaders to spur progress across three critical dimensions: freshwater access and management, blue food security and ocean protection.

Here are some of the sessions and launches to expect at Davos: