The United Nations has issued a stark warning about the future of the planet’s water cycle, highlighting the growing unpredictability of floods and droughts as a distress signal of the escalating climate crisis.
In its latest report, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) revealed that last year the world’s rivers experienced their driest conditions in over 30 years, and glaciers saw their largest loss of ice mass in half a century. These alarming trends were coupled with a significant number of flood events worldwide.
“Water is the canary in the coalmine of climate change,” stated Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General. “We receive distress signals in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall, floods, and droughts, which wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems, and economies.”
Saulo emphasized that the heating of the Earth’s atmosphere is making the water cycle more erratic and unpredictable. “A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which is conducive to heavy rainfall. More rapid evaporation and drying of soils worsen drought conditions,” she explained.
The year was marked by record-breaking temperatures and widespread dry conditions, leading to prolonged droughts in some regions. Simultaneously, many areas experienced devastating floods, underscoring the dual extremes of water-related impacts driven by climate change.
These extreme weather events were influenced by natural climate phenomena such as La Niña and El Niño but are increasingly exacerbated by human-induced climate change. The WMO’s report serves as a critical reminder of the urgent need for global action to address the climate emergency and its profound effects on the planet’s water resources.
“The unpredictability of the water cycle poses a significant challenge to communities worldwide,” Saulo added. “It is imperative that we enhance our understanding and management of water resources to mitigate the impacts of climate change and safeguard the well-being of future generations.”
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
