Institute for Public Knowledge Global Water Economics Research Assistant

Water Economics and Beyond

For the first time in human history, the hydrological cycle is out of balance, undermining an equitable and sustainable future for all. The cycle is comprised of the stock and flows of blue water (liquid water in rivers, lakes and aquifers) and green water, i.e. moisture in soils and plants that ultimately circulates through the atmosphere and generates around half the rainfall we receive on land (and 70% of annual precipitation for the poorest 10% of the global population).

While remarkably stable across the Holocene, the water cycle has been tilted by a combination of climate change (one additional degree in global temperature translates into 7% more moisture in the air), land use change (where it affects the capacity of soils to keep moisture), and inadequate water management. Consequently, rainfall patterns are shifting, creating uncertainty on how much water will be available and when, with massive consequences for our economies, societies and environment. Large scale storage and irrigation is not the answer: intensely irrigated regions tend to see declines in water storage, with some experiencing a rate of decline twice as fast as other regions. If current trends persist, extreme water storage declines could make irrigation unfeasible, leading to a 23% reduction in global cereal production.

The degradation of freshwater ecosystems – including the loss of moisture in the soil – has become a driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. The result is more frequent and increasingly severe droughts, floods, heatwaves, and wildfires across the globe, and a future of growing water scarcity, with grave consequences for human security. Nearly 3 billion people and more than half of the world’s food production are now in areas where total water storage is projected to decline. Left unchecked, a tilted water cycle will result in growing gaps in nutrition in populations already at risk, the greater spread of diseases, widening inequalities within and across nations, and increased conflicts and forced migration.

Disruptions to the hydrological cycle have major global economic impacts. The combined effects of changing precipitation patterns and rising temperatures due to climate change, together with declining total water storage and lack of access to clean water and sanitation, imply that high-income countries could see their GDPs shrink by an average of 8% by 2050, while lower-income countries could face even steeper declines of 10-15%. No industry, geography, corporate is immune from these changes.

Research Assistant for Global Water Economics

The part-time Research Assistant will work closely together with and support the Executive Director of the GCEW / visiting scholar at NYU / IPK, Henk Ovink in the months February 2025 until August 2025 in the dissemination and follow up of the work of the GCEW, in partnership with the secretariat team at IWMI (International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka).

Specific tasks

- Support the ongoing dissemination of the GCEW work

- Support the monitoring and quality assurance of delivery of final research products and rounding up the research where possible (or ensure a soft landing and secure follow up funding and support)

- Supporting the development of new policy papers (land use and desertification, Rio Trio agenda, Wetlands, Glaciers, Finance for Development, etcetera)

- Help with the development of the plan and strategy (scope, impact, planning, organization, governance, funding, etcetera) towards the UN 2026 Water Conference with an outlook to the UN 2028 Water Conference

- Provide support and initiate research, policy recommendations and strategic advice for UN Water Agenda

- Help draft a research program on the follow-up of the GCEW

- Help structure the Water Cycle Diplomacy narrative (book to be published)

Specific skills

- 3-5 years of relevant work experience

- Strong interest in the governance, economics and policy around environment, justice, climate and water issues (from local to global and back again)

- Strong interest in multilateralism paired with local activism

- Research experience with environmental-economics writ large

- Writing skills beyond academic papers

- Analytically creative and innovative

- Structurally well organized

- Ambitious

- Ability to work 10-15 hours per week / until August 31, 2025

Pay range:$28-$32 per hour

Structure

The Global Water Economics Research Assistant will work under direct guidance of visiting scholar at NYU IPK and Executive Director of the GCEW, Henk Ovink, and in partnership with a support team at and contracted through IWMI (International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka).

NYU IPK – The Institute for Public Knowledge, a provostial institute, was founded in 2007 to align scholarship with major public issues. The Institute selects and develops topics for consideration and discussion to bring together academics, social researchers, and organizational leaders around issues of public concern. To further these investigations, the Institute forms working groups, which include organizational representatives, graduate students, faculty, and IPK Visiting Scholars from various organizations and academic institutions who share an interest in IPK’s topics and concerns.

Global Commission on the Economics of Water

The Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) was set up to redefine the way we value and govern water for the common good and present the evidence and the pathways for changes in policy, business approaches and global collaboration to support climate and water justice, sustainability, and food-energy-water security.

The Commission is convened by the Government of the Netherlands. It was launched in May 2022 with a two-year mandate. The GCEW is executed by an independent and diverse group of eminent policy makers and researchers in fields that bring novel perspectives to water economics, aligning the planetary economy with sustainable water-resource management. Its purpose is to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global effort to spur change in the way societies govern, use and value water. https://watercommission.org/

The GCEW final report, The Economics of Water: Valuing the Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good, was presented on October 17, 2024 and is inspired by, and builds on, the game-changing Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity, a trilogy that now provides a pathway for integrated thinking and action on these fundamentally interrelated challenges of sustainability.

The GCEW is led by four co-chairs, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President, Republic of Singapore, Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization and Johan Rockström, Professor in Earth System Science at University of Potsdam and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

NYU IPK Visiting Scholar Henk Ovink

Henk Ovink is the Executive Director and founding Commissioner for the Global Commission on the Economics of Water. He was the first ever global water ambassador, appointed in 2015 by the Dutch Cabinet as Special Envoy for International Water Affairs. As Ambassador to the UN on Water he led the second UN Water Conference in 2023, the first since 1977.

Henk served on President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force where he led the long-term innovation, resilience, and rebuilding efforts and developed and led the groundbreaking ‘Rebuild by Design’ competition. Before joining the Task Force Ovink was both Acting Director General of Spatial Planning and Water Affairs and Director National Spatial Planning for the Netherlands after multiple roles in the private sector and academia.

Henk holds an honorary doctorate at Delft University. He is the incoming chair of the IWMI Board of Governors. He is affiliated to the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes at Columbia University’s GSAPP and Climate School, is visiting scholar at NYU IPK and is a lecturer at the University of Groningen. In 2023 Henk Ovink was the 10^th recipient of the Foreign Affairs Decoration of Honor in Gold for his global leadership on water diplomacy.

International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit international water management research organization under the CGIAR with its headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and offices across Africa and Asia. Research at the Institute focuses on improving how water and land resources are managed, with the aim of underpinning food security and reducing poverty while safeguarding the environment. Its research focuses on water availability and access, including adaptation to climate change; how water is used and how it can be used more productively; water quality and its relationship to health and the environment; and how societies govern their water resources. In 2012, IWMI was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize Laureate by Stockholm International Water Institute for its pioneering research, which has helped to improve agricultural water management, enhance food security, protect environmental health and alleviate poverty in developing countries. IWMI is a member of CGIAR, a global research partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for sustainable development, and leads the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. IWMI is also a partner in the CGIAR Research Programs on: Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS); Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS); Dryland Systems; and Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics.

Specific skills

- 3-5 years of relevant work experience

- Strong interest in the governance, economics and policy around environment, justice, climate and water issues (from local to global and back again)

- Strong interest in multilateralism paired with local activism

- Research experience with environmental-economics writ large

- Writing skills beyond academic papers

- Analytically creative and innovative

- Structurally well organized

- Ambitious

Submit a CV, cover letter, and a list of 3 professional references through Interfolio.