About
The Global Commission on the Economics of Water
The Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) was initiated in 2022 with the aim to redefine the way we value and govern water for the common good. The Commission's final report, titled 'The Economics of Water – Valuing the Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good' was published on 17 October 2024.
The report advances a radical proposition: the hydrological cycle must be recognised and governed as a global common good. It articulates the transitions needed in food, energy, cities, finance, and other sectors if we are to protect water and make it an invaluable ally in our fight against climate change. The report was hailed by international media and experts as a "landmark", as its scientists and economists were able to produce "the biggest global study to examine all aspects of the water crisis and suggest remedies for policymakers."
Rather than a commodity, water is a key component in ensuring a just future for all people and the planet. Based on the Commission's final report, there is no future without a stabilized hydrological cycle and the responsibility and opportunity for that stabilization lies in the hands of us all. The true value of water can only be found across society, and it is only through collective efforts and actions that we can reverse course.
The birth of 'Flying Rivers'
In April 2024, the Commission invited fifteen thinkers and practitioners from around the world at the Bellagio Centre of the Rockefeller Foundation to consider how its work could achieve lasting impact through new coalitions. In this context, artist Bill Balaskas proposed 'Flying Rivers': an international cultural programme drawing on the capacity of art and creativity to educate, motivate, provoke and activate.
The participants of the Bellagio Convention were Brinda Adhikari, Media Strategist; Bill Balaskas, Artist; Carter Brandon, WRI; Joachim Declerck, Architecture Workroom Brussels; Rada Dogandjieva, Dalberg Catalyst; Anna Dupont, Water Global Affairs expert, OECD, GCEW; Shahnoor Hasan, Deltares; Morten Højer, City of Copenhagen; Kuku, Musician; Adrian Lahoud, Royal College of Art; Cate Lamb, UNEP FI, CDP; Musonda Mumba, Ramsar Convention; Henk Ovink, Executive Director GCEW; Philip Rode, LSE Cities; Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi, Food System Economics Commission; Lisa Scholten, Delft University of Technology; Eliza Swedenborg, WRI; Lucy Watkinson, Secretariat GCEW; Denise Young, Writer and Strategic Communications Leader, GCEW.
Created by Bill Balaskas and developed in collaboration with the GCEW and Anna Dupont, co-curator of GCEW follow-up initiatives, 'Flying Rivers' was announced through three events in the official public programme of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2025. These began on World Environment Day (June 5), and culminated during the Biennale's finissage week (November 19), when BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art was announced as the programme’s first collaborating institution.
Following the Venice events and further international consultation with cultural practitioners and institutions, 'Flying Rivers' is inviting partners worldwide to contribute to sustained and coordinated action.
Why 'Flying Rivers'?
'Flying Rivers' takes its name from the invisible flows of water vapour that connect distant regions through the hydrological cycle. "Blue" water includes water in rivers, lakes and aquifers. "Green" water is moisture held in soils and vegetation, supporting plant life and returning to the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration. These flows interact with the oceans, atmosphere, snow and ice through a continuous cycle of storage, movement and precipitation. Water released into the atmosphere can travel considerable distances before returning to the Earth's surface. Forests and other ecosystems therefore help sustain rainfall beyond their immediate surroundings. Protecting forests, wetlands and soils is essential to the water security of places connected through these flows. These connections reveal our shared dependence on water, while calling attention to unequal vulnerabilities and responsibilities.
Culture and collective action
The final paragraph of the GCEW’s report recognises culture's capacity to form and disseminate the narratives through which societies understand and respond to the water crisis. In 'Climate Change and Culture' (2026), GCEW Co-Chair Mariana Mazzucato similarly positions arts and culture as essential social infrastructure for collective imagination and a just transition.
'Flying Rivers' seeks to make the hydrological cycle publicly legible, build pressure for political action and help educate a new generation capable of sustaining long-term change. It brings cultural work into dialogue with science, policy and activism, creating opportunities to examine the political and economic forces driving the water crisis and to challenge greenwashing.
The programme has two connected components: a Campaign, supporting public engagement through visual communication and learning resources; and an International Museums Consortium, through which participating institutions and other contributors will be invited to develop shared principles and commitments for water and climate action.
'Flying Rivers' welcomes institutions across all geographies, scales and models: museums and galleries of contemporary, modern, medieval and ancient art; organisations dedicated to archaeology, architecture, design, film, photography, natural history and science; interdisciplinary and discipline-specific, collecting and non-collecting institutions; heritage sites, archives, libraries, cultural centres, foundations, biennials, community-led and artist-run spaces – and other institutional forms not named here.
The logo
The logo of 'Flying Rivers' was created by young designer Odette Dierkx in collaboration with Bill Balaskas and Studio KT1. It brings together elements of the hydrological cycle through a visual language combining figuration and abstraction. Its central strokes evoke both a river’s course and the movement of sea waves, recalling the exchange of water between oceans and land. The upper stroke also suggests a bird in flight, connecting the programme's name with the dependence of living beings on the hydrological cycle. The lettering uses the same font as the GCEW logo and incorporates its two droplets: a blue droplet for "blue" water (the water in rivers, lakes and aquifers), and a green droplet for "green" water (the water held in soils and vegetation).
Contact
To express interest in participating, please use the form below or email info@flyingrivers.art with a brief introduction to your institution, its location and, if you wish, any initial thoughts about participation.
Expressions of interest are considered on an ongoing basis.