David Michel

Senior Fellow, Global Food and Water Security Program
David Michel

David Michel is the senior fellow for water security with the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). His work explores the emerging challenges and policy solutions to growing pressures on the world’s interdependent water, food, energy, and climate systems. Before joining CSIS, he served as senior researcher with the Environment of Peace 2022 initiative at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, supporting governments and social institutions to anticipate, evaluate, and address complex ecological risks. As senior manager in the Transboundary Water Department with the Stockholm International Water Institute from 2017–2019, he worked to promote cooperative resources governance in major river basins across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. From 2010–2015 he was founding director of the Environmental Security Program at the Stimson Center. David has written widely on water and climate security, environmental resilience, and sustainable resources management, and has contributed policy analyses and strategic risk assessments for government agencies, development institutions, and international organizations such as the World Bank, United Nations, and U.S. National Intelligence Council. His analyses appear in academic and policy journals including Applied Energy, Journal of Hydrology, Water International, and Foreign Policy, and have featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, Voice of America, and the BBC. He was educated at Yale University, the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

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Executive Education

Global Foresight: Preparing for Future Trends

Global Foresight: Preparing for Future Trends is Washington’s premier executive course for mid-to senior-level professionals responsible for helping their organizations predict and prepare for the global macrotrends that will drive change for the next 30 years.

Course Date: April 8, 2024
Registration Closes: March 29, 2024

Living the Global Water Crisis

Join the CSIS Global Food and Water Security Program to discuss the themes of this year’s World Water Day and the tools that researchers and decisionmakers are using to bring human voices to the growing risks to global water security. Featuring Dr. Sera Young.

Event — March 22, 2024

The Siege of Gaza’s Water

The siege on Gaza is crippling the territory’s water systems. Clean water and sanitation are unavailable for most, threatening a public health disaster. Improving water access is critical to preventing further loss of life and livelihoods and to rebuilding a secure future.

Commentary by Natasha Hall, Anita Kirschenbaum, and David Michel — January 12, 2024

Water and Global Climate Action at COP28

Water represents the tip of the spear of mounting global climate change impacts through worsening floods, droughts, and storms. COP28 called on countries to strengthen adaptation strategies for water security. Policymakers must now turn exhortations into concrete action.

Commentary by David Michel — December 20, 2023

Water and Food: How, When, and Why Water Imperils Global Food Security

World food production will have to grow 50 percent by 2050 to meet rising demands, requiring 30 percent more water than today, fueling concerns that mounting agricultural needs risk colliding with increasingly strained resource supplies.

Critical Questions by David Michel — October 16, 2023