Enhancing Climate Resilience through Sustainable Water Management: A MetaAnalysis of Nature-Based and Hybrid Solutions Across Global Regions

Samira Troudi, Sami Aouadi

Climate change significantly interferes with the water systems worldwide by influencing the precipitation patterns, the rate of evaporation, and the demand of water, making them even more scarce especially in the semi-arid and the Mediterranean parts of the world. Nature-based solutions (NbS), hybrid systems, and technological interventions are the most popular sustainability water management (SWM) strategies that have been suggested to be used as climate mitigation and adaptation techniques. Nevertheless, the evidence on their effectiveness is still scattered in regions and types of interventions. This research paper is a first-order metaanalysis review of 174 peer-reviewed articles published between 1990 and 2025 and which analyzed various climatic regions across the globe. By random-effects modeling, the overall effect size of SWM interventions, and moderation by region, intervention type, and governance structure are estimated. Hedges g = 0.44 (95% CI: 0.360.53, p < 0.001) is the pooled effect size, which reflects a moderate statistically significant positive effect on climate resilience outcomes. The highest benefits (g = 0.59) are obtained with NbS and hybrid solutions, such as wetland restoration, managed aquifer recharge (MAR), and green infrastructure, especially in water-limited environments (g = 0.61 in semi-arid and Mediterranean). Both the decentralized and community-based governance models are positively related to the improved performance of SWM ( 0.27, p = 0.012). Thorough diagnostics of publication bias support robustness. These results support the idea that context-specific solutions should be integrated and based on ecological, technological, and governance tools. Multi-sectoral SWM models that provide both mitigation and adaptation benefits should be of priority to the policymakers in the face of growing climatic uncertainty.