Mapping the future of water-based production
ZEDAs Project is building the world's first global platform to identify territories where water availability, quality, resilience, and governance can support long-term economic development.
A new question for an era of water scarcity
ZEDAS — Water Availability and Water-Resilient Economic Zones — is an international initiative that combines four disciplines to identify territories suitable for sustainable, water-based production.
- Hydrology
- Economics
- Industrial policy
- Geospatial intelligence
How can industries adapt to water scarcity?
Where should future industries be located according to water availability?
Sixteen countries, one standardized methodology
The pilot phase brings together National Focal Points, experts, and institutions from sixteen countries across Latin America, Africa, and Asia, developing the first standardized methodology for water-based economic planning.
Data partners
The people behind the pilot
The pilot is powered by focal points across the DFC National Network.
Gonzalo Meschengieser
Project Lead
Latin America
Argentina
- Angie Gómez Pizarro
- Mariano Kristoff
- Juan Iervasi
- Gonzalo Meschengieser
Brazil
- Neylor de Lima Fabiano
Colombia
- Sandra Esther Gaitán Hidalgo
Mexico
- Enrique Avila Barra
- Jorge Eduardo Casillas Navarro
Africa
Kenya
- Scholastica Ngari
Ethiopia
- Beza Abrham Tamiru
- Betelhem
Ghana
- Dr. Blissbern Appiagyei Osei-Owusu
- Lydia Otoo Amponsah
- Enoch Yeboah Agyepong
South Africa
- Namisha Muthraparsad
- Nicolette Vermaak
Tanzania
- Dr. Josephine Donald Mremi
Uganda
- Monicah Elizabeth Seruma
Burkina Faso
- Valentin Tiama
- Maimouna Bologo/Traoré
Mali
- Yacouba Diarra
Nigeria
- Eucharia Ebere Ezeudegbunam
- Odun Akinyele
- Latifah Lawal
- Musa Juliet Ma'a
- Nasiru Usman
- Daniel Kayode
- Ibe Vivian
Asia
India
- Prateek Kumawat
- Deepak Kumar Singhal
Nepal
- Nabin Joshi
Vietnam
- Ngo Tho Hung
- Dinh Xuan Lam
- Nguyen Dang Tinh
- Do Phuong Hien
The pilot, at a glance
- 16
- Pilot countries
- 4
- Continents
- 100+
- Experts & institutions
- 7
- Core variables
- 6
- Assessment dimensions
- 1
- Global methodology
across Latin America, Africa, and Asia — one standardized methodology.
Four shifts behind a water-first approach
Putting water at the center of where production happens changes the calculus for everyone with a stake in it.
Water first
Water becomes the primary variable for industrial location decisions — not an afterthought to manage.
Smarter investment
Governments and investors can identify resilient opportunities before committing capital.
Sustainable production
Economic growth and freshwater protection stop competing and start reinforcing each other.
Global cooperation
A common language for water-based development, shared across borders and institutions.
For more than two centuries, the geography of development was shaped by coal, oil, ports, labor, and capital. Today water is emerging as the defining strategic asset of the twenty-first century. The question is no longer how to bring water to production — production must adapt to water.
Six dimensions, scored consistently
Every territory is sounded across the same six dimensions, so results are comparable from one country to the next.
- 01
Water Availability
Renewable resources and per-capita supply that set the ceiling for new demand.
- 02
Supply Capacity & Resilience
Storage, variability, and the ability to absorb drought and shocks.
- 03
Water Quality
Whether available water meets the standards a given industry needs.
- 04
Treatment, Reuse & Efficiency
How far each cubic metre is stretched through reuse and productivity.
- 05
Water–Industry Compatibility
Matching sectoral water intensity to what a territory can sustain.
- 06
Legislation
The governance, rights, and rules that direct allocation and use.
See where water favors production
The pilot map turns the methodology into something you can explore. It classifies each pilot country by its water profile — and it grows from here.
- Classifies 16 pilot countries across 7 water & economic indicators
- Switch indicator layers and read each country's value on the map
- Open any country for its full profile and an indicator breakdown chart
- Build side-by-side comparisons across selected countries
- High Availability – High Quality
- High Availability – Quality Constrained
- Low Availability – High Efficiency
- High Risk – Restricted Use
- River-basin and aquifer layers
- Sub-national, territory-level granularity
- Industry-fit recommendations
- Downloadable reports and GIS data layers
An AI agent you can ask to reshape value chains around water
The project’s furthest ambition: as data accumulates across territories, you’ll simply ask ZEDAS Intelligence a question — and it will reason over the same live indicators behind the map (water availability, stress, productivity) to show how and where global value chains can shift toward water-resilient ground.
- Ask in plain language — the agent reads the live indicators and does the analysis for you.
- Grounded in the map's own pilot dataset: 16 countries, FAO AQUASTAT and SDG 6.4.2.
- Acts on the panel — switches indicator layers, compares countries, surfaces candidates.
A demonstration of asking the ZEDAS Intelligence agent which pilot countries pair the most renewable water with no water stress. The agent queries the pilot dataset and returns Brazil, Colombia, and Vietnam with their renewable-water and water-stress values from FAO AQUASTAT and SDG 6.4.2. Illustrative preview of a feature that is not yet live.
Help shape water-based development
ZEDAS grows through international collaboration. Researchers, governments, companies, universities, and development organizations are invited to join.
Made possible by the Danida Fellows Networkers Grant 2026
The pilot phase of the ZEDAS Project has been made possible through the support of the Danida Fellows Networkers Grant 2026.
The grant has been provided by Danida Fellowship Centre and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
Funding partner — 01 / 02Danida Fellowship Centre
Funding partner — 02 / 02Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark