THERE is an urgent need for faster reform and greater funding around water security in the region, says Asia Development Bank President Masato Kanda.
He warned that across Asia and the Pacific, floods, weak sanitation and stressed ecosystems were outpacing the region’s preparedness.
Speaking at a symposium marking Japan’s Water Day, Kanda said water is central not only to public health but also to food systems, energy supply and broader economic growth.
“Water underpins our health, our food, and our energy,” he said.
“It sustains ecosystems and powers economies, including through clean and reliable hydropower.”
In a world unsettled by conflict and volatile energy markets, he added, “the link between water and energy security has rarely mattered more.”
“Water security is not merely a resource issue. It is the foundation of economic development,” Kanda said.
Kanda said a new ADB-administered fund with Japan would help developing economies improve disaster preparedness, build infrastructure and manage water more effectively.
He praised Japan’s long-running approach to integrated river basin management, disaster-risk reduction, efficient water supply networks and decentralised wastewater treatment, calling it a model of sustained investment and reform.
Japan established Water Day and Water Week in 1977, reflecting what Kanda described as a national commitment to shared responsibility for water.
He said Japan’s experience, along with its support for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and practical cooperation across the region, offered lessons for other countries facing rising climate and water stress.
The ADB chief said more than 40% of the world’s flood events occur in Asia, underscoring the scale of the risk facing the region.
“About 220 million people in Asia and the Pacific still lack basic water supply, while around 520 million do not have basic sanitation.
At the same time, the region has made substantial gains. Since 2013, about 2.7 billion people, roughly three in five in Asia and the Pacific, have moved out of extreme water insecurity, according to ADB’s fifth Asian Water Development Outlook, published in December 2025.
But Kanda warned those gains remain fragile. About 4 billion people still face risks from unreliable water and sanitation, water-related disasters and deteriorating ecosystems.
Closing the gap, he said, will require stronger policy, better governance, greater efficiency, healthier ecosystems and more financing.
ADB said it committed $USD12.7 billion to the water sector from 2021 to 2025, benefiting about 63 million people.
The lender pointed to projects including expanded wastewater treatment in Fiji to protect mangroves, coral reefs, and fishing communities; work with the International Finance Corporation and Maynilad to improve water services in the Philippines; and reforms in Sri Lanka aimed at reducing costly water losses.
ADB, founded in 1966, is owned by 69 members, 50 of them from the region.
