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Freshwater resources constitute a fundamental component of coupled natural–human systems, underpinning ecosystem functioning, biogeochemical cycling, and socio-economic development. Anthropogenic climate change (i.e., climate change attributable to human activity, as distinct from natural climatic variability), driven primarily by greenhouse gas emissions and land-use change, is exerting significant pressure on the global hydrological cycle, resulting in increased hydroclimatic variability, intensification of extreme hydrometeorological events, and progressive degradation of freshwater quality and availability. This review synthesizes recent scientific evidence on climate-induced impacts on water systems together with emerging adaptation and resilience strategies. The analysis is based on a systematic assessment of 100 peer-reviewed studies indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (2010–2025) and synthesized following a PRISMA-informed (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) narrative review protocol. Beyond confirming well-established trends in precipitation regimes, cryospheric decline, increasing evapotranspiration, and the growing frequency of droughts and floods, this review quantifies the magnitude of these changes across the reviewed literature, including an approximately 134% increase in flood-related disasters since 1980 and a 29% increase in drought duration since 2000. More importantly, it provides an integrated synthesis that links physical climate impacts with adaptation strategies and socio-ecological resilience frameworks within a unified analytical perspective, thereby complementing previous domain-specific reviews that have generally examined these dimensions separately. Prominent adaptation pathways identified across the reviewed literature include nature-based solutions, integrated water resources management frameworks, and the deployment of digital water technologies. In parallel, resilience is increasingly conceptualized as the adaptive capacity of socio-hydrological systems to absorb disturbances, reorganize, and transform under changing climatic conditions. The findings highlight the need to strengthen integrated and cross-sectoral water governance, enhance climate-informed decision-making, and expand monitoring and data infrastructures to improve long-term water security and socio-ecological resilience under accelerating climate change.
Dordai et al. (Fri,) studied this question.