Water security remains a critical global development challenge, compounded by persistent public funding shortfalls. Society urgently needs to identify opportunities for innovative private sector engagement in water security solutions. To identify feasible and impactful solutions, quantitative tools are needed to delineate complex environmental and socioeconomic water challenges and prioritize private sector investment opportunity spaces to address these challenges. We introduce the first global and regional-scale maps showing where threats to water security coincide with private sector opportunities to address them. The successful deployment of water solutions is contingent upon the societal and governance landscape that underpins a nation’s capacity to support sustainable water threat interventions and water-related business activities. By delineating areas with substantial pressures on water resources and assessing nations’ enabling environments to support private sector investments, we find nearly two-thirds of the world’s population could benefit from private sector interventions today, with middle income countries realizing the greatest benefits. In the face of global economic development and climate change, such solutions will become increasingly essential in future decades.

中文翻译：

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规划可持续水的未来：私营部门在全球水安全和复原力方面的机遇


水安全仍然是全球发展的一项重大挑战，而持续的公共资金短缺更是雪上加霜。社会迫切需要寻找创新的私营部门参与水安全解决方案的机会。为了确定可行且有影响力的解决方案，需要定量工具来描述复杂的环境和社会经济水挑战，并优先考虑私营部门投资机会空间来应对这些挑战。我们推出了第一张全球和区域规模的地图，显示水安全威胁与私营部门解决这些问题的机会相一致。水解决方案的成功部署取决于社会和治理格局，而社会和治理格局支撑着国家支持可持续水威胁干预措施和与水相关的商业活动的能力。通过划定水资源面临巨大压力的地区并评估各国支持私营部门投资的有利环境，我们发现当今世界近三分之二的人口可以从私营部门的干预措施中受益，其中中等收入国家受益最大。面对全球经济发展和气候变化，此类解决方案在未来几十年将变得越来越重要。