The 2024 World Water Development Report Water for Prosperity and Peace was launched on the 22nd of March - World Water Day - explores water’s capacity to unite people and serve as a tool for peace, sustainable development, climate action and regional integration. In his foreword to the 2024 report, UN Water Chair Alvaro Lario stated that water, when managed sustainably and equitably, can be a source of peace and prosperity.

The report explicitly links peace and prosperity. Water infrastructure and its management systems, the report argues, promote growth and prosperity by securing a reliable water supply for key economic sectors such as agriculture, energy, industry, and a broad range of businesses and services that support livelihoods worldwide.

Although it is not easy to directly link GDP to water availability because of the huge diversity of ways in which water influences the economy, in low and lower-middle-income countries, an estimated 70–80% of jobs are water-dependent. In addition, safe, accessible and functioning water supply and sanitation systems foster prosperity by enhancing the quality of life, supporting education and ensuring a healthy workforce. The cost-benefit ratio of investments in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services has been shown to provide significant positive returns, especially through co-benefits such as health, education and employment.

In the realm of peacebuilding, the report emphasises the positive role that water plays in fostering cooperation, ranging from community-led initiatives that have relieved local tensions to dispute settlement at the transboundary level. And although water is not usually a trigger for conflict, inequalities in the allocation of water resources or in access to water services can be undermine peace and stability. This is all the more so in the context of factors which may exacerbate the problem, such as climate change, geopolitical unrest, pandemics, or mass migration.