Global Water Resources Management Under Climate and Land Use Changes: Emerging Trends and Future Perspectives

Zhimin Yang; Chunhui Li; Xiong Zhou; Lirong Liu; Lyuliu Liu; Junren Chen; Xuan Wang; Yujun Yi; Qiang Liu

doi:10.53941/hwr.2026.100008

Abstract

This study offers a comprehensive overview of global water resource research under climate and land use changes from 1990 to 2025. Using bibliometric analysis and traditional systematic literature review, we analyzed trends, hotspots, and challenges in this field. The results reveal a substantial growth in research output, with an average annual growth rate of 32.07% over the full period, peaking significantly in the post-2020 era due to the proliferation of digital technologies. Early studies (1990–2000) concentrated on hydrological and ecological modeling at the basin scale, while the intermediate period (2001–2015) emphasized climate scenario downscaling and integrated water resources management. Recent research (2016–2025) represents a paradigm shift toward systemic complexity, integrating socio-economic aspects such as the water-energy-food nexus, carbon emissions, and environmental justice. Key advancements between 2020 and 2025 include the operational transition of AI and digital twins for monitoring and decision support; transformative observational advances from satellite missions such as SWOT (launched in 2022) and the continuing GRACE-FO; and a growing, evidence-based focus on the trade-offs inherent in implementing sponge city and broader nature-based solutions under climate and land-use change. Furthermore, the study highlights the necessity for interdisciplinary and multi-scale methodologies to tackle the intricate interactions between climate, land use, and water resources. Major challenges involve bridging the “digital divide” in data-scarce regions, overcoming the “black box” interpretability limitations of machine learning models, and translating scientific consensus into actionable policy for global water resilience. This research provides insights and guidance for future research studies and policy-making, aiming to promote effective and sustainable water resource management in response to global environmental changes.

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