Flash flood area in Haor, Bangladesh (Photo: Digbjoy Dey, Riva)

The relationship between climate change and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is no longer a peripheral concern. Climate change is already affecting the availability and quality of water resources, the resilience of infrastructure, the continuity of WASH services and, disproportionately, the people who are already most vulnerable. At the same time, WASH systems can play an important role in both climate adaptation and mitigation. Yet knowledge on these connections remains spread across research papers, policy briefs, learning resources, case studies, blogs and practical tools.

To make this knowledge easier to navigate, Digbijoy Dey has compiled a Climate Change and WASH Resource Repository, as part of the CRI WASH Hub Library, bringing together selected resources from Riva (formerly IRCWASH). The repository is organised around several interconnected themes, including climate adaptation and resilience, climate finance, sanitation and mitigation, water resources management, WASH systems strengthening, and climate-resilient service delivery. A dedicated section brings together resources from Bangladesh, including work on climate hotspots, service delivery models and private-sector engagement.

Rather than following a single linear reading list, the repository offers several pathways. Those new to the topic can start with the foundational work on climate change, water resources and WASH systems, before moving towards the broader systems and climate discussions captured through All Systems Connect. Those interested in finance can follow the pathway from climate finance for WASH to more recent work on alternative and carbon-market finance. For practitioners working in Bangladesh (a climate change hotspot), the collection provides a more contextual pathway through the country’s climate hotspots, resilient WASH service models and emerging approaches to private-sector engagement. These pathways also highlight an important evolution in thinking: climate-resilient WASH is not only about climate-proofing infrastructure, but about strengthening the wider systems that enable services to remain sustainable and adaptive.

This repository is intended as a living knowledge resource rather than an exhaustive bibliography. Much of the foundational climate-WASH work remains in the IRC archive, while Riva’s newer portfolio is increasingly bringing together thinking on climate, water security and systems change. The collection will therefore continue to evolve as new evidence, learning and practical experience emerge. We hope it provides a useful starting point for practitioners, researchers, policymakers and others working to understand—and strengthen—the links between climate change and sustainable WASH services.