The State of Global Water Resources report, released on Monday, shed light on the alarming state of the world’s water sources. The report highlighted that over the past five years, there has been a significant decrease in river flows, leading to less water reaching reservoirs. This reduction in water supplies has had a detrimental impact on communities, agriculture, and ecosystems.
According to the report, currently, 3.6 billion people worldwide face inadequate access to water for at least one month per year. This number is expected to increase to more than five billion by 2050, as stated by UN Water. The report also revealed that glaciers have experienced the largest loss of mass ever recorded in the last five decades. Every region in the world with glaciers reported ice loss, resulting in more than 600 gigatonnes of water being released into the ocean and riverways.
Furthermore, 2023 was recorded as the hottest year on record, leading to elevated temperatures and widespread dry conditions, which exacerbated prolonged droughts. The report emphasized the unprecedented stress on the world’s freshwater resources, exacerbated by climate change and increasing demand.
“Water is the canary in the coalmine of climate change. We receive distress signals in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall, floods, and droughts, which wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems, and economies,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. The report highlighted a significant number of floods worldwide, influenced by natural climate conditions like the transition from La Niña to El Niño weather patterns in mid-2023, as well as human-induced climate change.
“As a result of rising temperatures, the hydrological cycle has accelerated. It has also become more erratic and unpredictable, and we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water,” Ms. Saulo explained.
Africa was one of the most affected regions in terms of human casualties. In Libya, two dams collapsed due to a major flood in September 2023, claiming over 11,000 lives and affecting 22% of the population. Floods also impacted the Greater Horn of Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Malawi. Additionally, the southern United States, Central America, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, and Brazil experienced widespread drought conditions, leading to record-low water levels in the Amazon and Lake Titicaca on the Bolivia-Peru border.
The report emphasized the importance of monitoring and data sharing to better understand the true state of the world’s freshwater resources. “Far too little is known about the true state of the world’s freshwater resources. We cannot manage what we do not measure,” Ms. Saulo stated. The report aims to enhance monitoring, data-sharing, cross-border collaboration, and assessments to address the urgent need for improved water resource management.
WMO highlighted the importance of enhancing the accessibility and availability of observational data to better understand and address the challenges facing the world’s water resources. The report called for increased collaboration and data-sharing among countries to improve water resource management and mitigate the impacts of climate change on water availability.
