UN Warns of Erratic Water Cycle Amid Climate Change

AFP/APP

Geneva:  The United Nations (UN) has issued a stark warning about the increasing unpredictability of the planet’s water cycle, highlighting that intensified floods and droughts are a “distress signal” of the climate crisis.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), last year marked the driest conditions for rivers in over three decades, alongside significant ice loss from glaciers and numerous flooding incidents.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo remarked that “water is the canary in the coalmine of climate change,” emphasizing that extreme rainfall, floods, and droughts are severely impacting lives, ecosystems, and economies.

She noted that rising temperatures have made the water cycle “more erratic and unpredictable,” with 2023 recorded as the hottest year to date, leading to prolonged droughts and severe flooding across the globe.

Saulo explained that natural climate phenomena like La Niña and El Niño contribute to these extreme events, but human-induced climate change plays an increasingly significant role. A warmer atmosphere retains more moisture, resulting in heavy rainfall, while faster evaporation exacerbates drought conditions.

The report indicates that approximately 3.6 billion people face insufficient access to fresh water at least once a month, a figure projected to rise to over five billion by 2050. Africa has been particularly hard-hit, with devastating floods in Libya claiming over 11,000 lives and affecting 22 percent of the population last year.

With more than 50 percent of river catchments drier than usual for the past three years and glaciers losing over 600 billion tonnes of water—the highest loss in 50 years—Saulo stressed the urgent need for action to secure long-term water resources. She called for improved monitoring of fresh water resources to enhance early warning systems and reduce the impact on communities and wildlife.

Stefan Uhlenbrook, director of the WMO’s hydrology department, underscored the importance of investing in water preservation infrastructure and conserving water for agriculture, which consumes 70 percent of the world’s fresh water.

He cautioned that returning to a regular water cycle would be challenging, emphasizing the need to stabilize the climate as a generational challenge.