Programme (2026) Global Groundwater Vulnerability Map to Floods and Droughts

Identification

• Journal: Dataset
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-03-05
• Authors: Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme
• DOI: 10.63253/kmnlvbwu

Research Groups

• UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP)
• Groundwater for Emergency Situations (GWES) project
• World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme (WHYMAP)
• UNESCO IHP-WINS (publisher)
• J. Vrba & A. Richts (Explanatory Notes authors)
• Tales Carvalho Resende (Dataset creator)
• Pablo Rojas (Dataset maintainer)

Short Summary

This paper presents the "Global Map of Groundwater Vulnerability to Floods and Droughts," a dataset indicating the intrinsic vulnerability and resistance of global groundwater resources to natural disasters. It serves as a crucial tool for emergency management and global water resource discussions.

Objective

• To create a global map that quantifies and visualizes the intrinsic vulnerability and sensitivity/resistance of groundwater systems to floods and droughts, thereby providing best practices and guidelines for managing safe groundwater resources in emergency situations and informing global water policy discussions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global (Earth's groundwater resources)
• Temporal Scale: Static assessment of vulnerability, based on compiled hydrogeological information, with explanatory notes published in 2015 and the dataset published in 2026.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly mentioned, but the map is the result of a joint effort by the GWES and WHYMAP projects, implying a synthesis of hydrogeological assessment methodologies.
• Data sources: Compiled hydrogeological information collected and visualized at a global scale, integrated from various sources by the GWES and WHYMAP programmes. The output is a Shapefile (SHP) dataset.

Main Results

• The primary result is the "Global Map of Groundwater Vulnerability to Floods and Droughts" dataset.
• This map provides a comprehensive visualization of the intrinsic vulnerability of groundwater systems and their sensitivity or resistance to natural disasters (floods and droughts) across the globe.

Contributions

• Provides a unique, globally consistent, and synthesized assessment of groundwater vulnerability to extreme events, which is critical for emergency preparedness and response.
• Contributes to global discussions on water issues by making invisible underground water resources more recognizable and understandable.
• Offers best practices and guidelines for identifying and managing low-vulnerability groundwater resources for emergency situations.

Funding

• UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP)
• Groundwater for Emergency Situations (GWES) project
• World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme (WHYMAP)

Citation

@article{Programme2026Global,
  author = {Programme, Intergovernmental Hydrological},
  title = {Global Groundwater Vulnerability Map to Floods and Droughts},
  journal = {Dataset},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.63253/kmnlvbwu},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.63253/kmnlvbwu}
}