Kongjian Yu , Erica Gies & Warren W. Wood Nature Water (2025) Cite this article Metrics Climate strategies focus primarily on carbon, largely ignoring the destabilized water cycle that’s amplifying disasters and accelerating climate change. Slow Water projects can reverse this trend. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access options Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles $119.00 per year only $9.92 per issue Buy this article Purchase on SpringerLink Instant access to full article PDF Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Additional access options: Log in Learn about institutional subscriptions Read our FAQs Contact customer support References Brondizio, E. S. et al. (eds) Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES Secretariat, 2019). Lawrence, D. et al. Front. Glob. Change 5 , 756115 (2022). Article Google Scholar Veldkamp, T. et al. Nat. Commun. 8 , 15697 (2017). Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Yu, K. et al. City Planning Review 39 , 26–36 (2015). Google Scholar Gies, E. Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge (Univ. Chicago Press, 2022). Peng, X. et al. Water 14 , 3084 (2022). Article Google Scholar Pan, H. et al. Nat. Clim. Change 13 , 862–870 (2023). Article CAS Google Scholar Wood, W. W. & Hyndman, D. Groundwater 56 , 845 (2018). Article CAS Google Scholar Miller, K. A. & Belton, V. Mitig. Adapt. Strateg. Glob. Change 19 , 289–308 (2014). Article Google Scholar Pope Francis Laudato si’ paragraph 171 (Ignatius, 2015). Gies, E. Nat. Water 1 , 820–823 (2023). Article Google Scholar Bruijnzeel, L. A. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.2175.v1 (2023). von Braun, J. et al. Nature 610 , 257 (2018). […]