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

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illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on the World Economic Forum website or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: "Blue Davos” is the water-focused theme running through the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026, as leaders frame 2026 as the ‘Year of Water’ 
• This year's meeting spotlights freshwater and ocean ecosystems as core to global stability and growth

🔭 The context: Climate change is throwing the global water cycle out of balance: more floods, deeper droughts, faster glacier melt and warmer oceans
• The year culminates in the UN Water Conference (Dec 2026, UAE), only the third such summit in nearly 50 years

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Water systems regulate climate, store carbon, sustain biodiversity and feed billions
• Ocean warming, freshwater loss and pollution are weakening these natural buffers, accelerating climate risks and threatening ecosystems that underpin food systems and planetary resilience

⏭️ What’s next: Davos will launch initiatives on water finance, basin-level cooperation, blue food systems and ocean protection
• The initiatives would aim to mobilise capital and scale solutions ahead of the UN Water Conference

💬 One quote: “The planet’s entire water cycle, spanning oceans, atmosphere and freshwater, is under strain”

📈 One stat: Since 1900, the global land area affected by drought has more than doubled

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