All regions of the world have experienced extreme events in their rainy cycles last year, in the form of floods and droughts, and billions of people have had problems accessing fresh water, according to a new United Nations report released on Tuesday.
Large areas of the planet experienced drier-than-normal weather in 2021, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a United Nations agency, said in its first annual report on global water resources.
The report assesses the impact of climate, environmental and social change on water resources, so they can be better managed in the face of growing demand.
“The impacts of climate change tend to manifest themselves through water, with more intense and frequent droughts, more extreme flooding, more irregular seasonal rainfall and accelerating glacier melt, and generate cascading effects on economies, ecosystems and all aspects of our daily lives,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
Access to drinking water
Some 3.6 billion people also have “inadequate” access to fresh water for at least one month of the year.
A figure that could exceed 5,000 million in 2050, according to the report.
Between 2001 and 2018, 74% of natural disasters have had to do with water, underlines the UN.
The WMO report analyzed the river flow in various basins of the world, comparing it with the average of the hydrological period of the last 30 years.
The area with below-average river flow was twice as large as the above-average area, the WMO summarily notes.
Drought in the Río de la Plata
In detail, among the driest areas recently, the report highlighted “the area of the Río de la Plata in South America, where a persistent drought has affected the region since 2019, the south and southeast of the Amazon, and some basins of North America, for example, those of the Colorado, Missouri, and Mississippi rivers”.
Instead, “higher-than-normal river flows were observed in some basins in North America, northern Amazonia and southern Africa (Zambezi and Orange), as well as in China (Amur River basin) and northern India”.
As regards terrestrial water storage, i.e. the water present on the surface and in the subsoil of the earth, the negative trends have been stronger than the positive ones.
Storage has been lower than the average for the last twenty years on the west coast of the United States, central South America, and Patagonia, among other regions.
On the other hand, it was higher than normal in the Amazon basin, central Africa and northern China.
“Some of the hotspots are exacerbated by the overdraft of groundwater for irrigation purposes. Melt of snow and ice is also having a significant impact in several areas including Alaska, Patagonia and the Himalayas,” the WMO added.
The largest reserves of fresh water in the world are found in the cryosphere, i.e. where there is ice and snow, in glaciers, in polar caps or in permafrost.
Mountain ice feeds rivers and is a source of fresh water supplies for 1.9 billion people, estimates the WMO, so its melt affects “food security, human health and the integrity and the maintenance of ecosystems”.
Therefore, the UN agency has urged the authorities to do so accelerate the introduction of early warning plans to prevent droughts and floods and reduce the impact of these extreme events.
Source: AFP
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.