POLICYFORUM A

n estimated 80 % of the world’s popu-lation faces a high-level water secu-rity or water-related biodiversity risk ( 1). The issue of water security—defi ned as an acceptable level of water-related risks to humans and ecosystems, coupled with the availability of water of sufficient quantity and quality to support livelihoods, national security, human health, and ecosystem ser-vices ( 2, 3)—is thus receiving considerable attention. To date, however, the majority of academic research on water security is rela-tively poorly integrated with the needs of policy-makers and practitioners; hence, substantial changes to funding, education, research frameworks, and academic incentive structures are required if researchers are to be enabled to make more substantive contribu-tions to addressing the global water crisis. Key Issues Driving Recent Interest More than 400 peer-reviewed publications on water security have appeared across the social, natural, and medical sciences in the past 20 years (more than 50 % of which have been published in the past 5 years) ( 4) (see the graph), and several universities have recently launched water security initiatives. Water security—the focus of the 2013 Stock-holm World Water Week and the next World Water Forum in 2015—has also attracted considerable attention from policy-makers, practitioners, and government organizations