|
||
|
TWN
Info Service on Climate Change (Sep25/02) Geneva, 19 Sep (D. Ravi Kanth) — The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on 18 September issued its report on the “State of Global Water Resources” that puts governments on notice about the worsening hydrological conditions of extreme floods, growing pressure on water resources, and retreating glaciers, in the last year. Releasing its flagship report at a media briefing at the United Nations Office at Geneva, the WMO secretary- general, Professor Celeste Saulo, warned prophetically that “water brings life,” and that it “sustains our societies, our economies, our ecosystems.” “But it also brings death,” she cautioned, if proper precautionary measures, including improving the database and thoroughgoing monitoring of hydrological resources are not adopted vigorously by governments. “The world’s water resources,” she continued, “are under pressure from growing demand.” “At the same time, we are seeing more water-related hazards,” that necessitate “reliable science-based information”, which “is more important than ever before to inform policymaking,” she said. The report is an authoritative, comprehensive assessment of the planet’s water cycle, revealing that the world’s water cycle is no longer stable and moving somewhat violently between drought and deluge – between “too much and too little,” the WMO chief said. Prof. Saulo backed her statement with several facts, including: * 2024 has been the hottest year on record. * Only a third of the world’s rivers had “normal” conditions, while two-thirds of the rivers experienced abnormal conditions. * Glaciers had lost 450 gigatons of ice – a block of frozen water so massive it could be imagined as seven kilometers high, seven km wide, and seven km deep. The water lost could fill 180 million Olympic-sized swimming pools and also raise the global sea level by 1.2 millimeters in a single year. Prof. Saulo also presented several disturbing aspects of the extreme developments in the water cycle last year. For example, she said the Amazon, which is considered one of the major sources of carbon sinks but is facing deforestation on a scale that is rarely witnessed, saw a dwindling of rivers last year. Drought, which denies livelihood for poor farmers, has gripped communities in Southern Africa, while in Central and Eastern Africa, torrents of rain have turned fertile ground into swamps, she said. Meanwhile, Europe’s swollen rivers have defied their banks, and in Pakistan, Bali (in Indonesia), and South Sudan, floods have destroyed lives in the blink of an eye. “The normal,” according to the WMO chief, “is not normal anymore. The new normal is an abnormal state.” In short, she ended her opening remarks at the media briefing by proposing a call to action that would involve more investment, more monitoring, and more international collaboration. Without data, she warned, “we risk flying blind.” THE DATASET Presenting a summary of the 90-page technical report through maps and slides about the worsening hydrological conditions, which are largely due to man-made climate change, Prof. Stefan Uhlenbrook, the head of the hydrological division at the WMO, emphasized that “the water cycle is behaving increasingly erratically.” More troublingly, “sixty percent of the world’s rivers are either too wet or too dry. Only forty percent fall into what we would statistically call “normal”,” he said. The slide presentation revealed the following aspects of the erratic water cycle: * Rainfall in 2024: Parts of South Asia, the Sahel, Central Asia, and Russia were wetter than ever. Meanwhile, Southern Africa and much of South America were parched. * Stream-flow: Drought tightened its grip on the Amazon, spreading northward, while Europe and South Asia experienced extraordinary floods. * Lake temperatures: In July, more than 70 lakes in the northern hemisphere showed abnormally high surface temperatures. The warming atmosphere was not just heating oceans but also rivers and lakes – altering ecosystems that depended on them. * Snow and ice: Record snowpack in Canada and Russia led to devastating spring floods. Yet by March, snow had already melted unusually early across Europe and North America, leaving soils drier for the summer ahead. * Glaciers: The third consecutive year of global, widespread glacier retreat. All 19 glacier regions of the world had lost mass. There was no exception, no reprieve. Driving home the message that “these glaciers are critical freshwater stores,” Prof. Uhlenbrook cautioned that “their loss is irreversible on human timescales.” He also presented graphs across countries of “hydrological extremes” showing how “normal” rivers shrank year after year, while the categories of “too much” or “too little” swelled. The report issued a strong message that countries can no longer take the hydrological developments for granted, which could severely undermine water security. The graphs showcasing the hydrological extremes were perhaps the most telling. Year after year, the bar representing “normal” river conditions shrank, while the categories for “too much” and “too little” swelled. During the Q&A session, Prof. Uhlenbrook was asked about the early warning systems that could save lives during floods, which seem to be devastating Pakistan and the state of Punjab in India, as well as the growing water scarcity. In response, he cited a near-disaster in Switzerland, where a potential glacial lake outburst flood was mitigated because experts, armed with precise data, evacuated residents and lowered reservoir levels in time. “This was a powerful example of how investment in monitoring pays off,” he said. Elaborating on the issue of early monitoring, the WMO chief said: “You cannot manage what you do not measure.” Prof. Saulo suggested that much of the world’s infrastructure – from dams to irrigation networks – was designed for a climate that no longer exists. She emphasized that policies must be urgently adapted to these new realities. The WMO’s expert on agriculture and water resources, Ms. Sulagna Mishra, noted that up to 90% of freshwater in some regions goes to agriculture. She underscored the need for optimizing water usage through drip irrigation, advanced soil monitoring, and better prediction models. Ms. Mishra also stressed on the need to capture and store freshwater before it is lost to the oceans. To another question concerning failing rivers and losing freshwater, Prof. Uhlenbrook clarified that the total amount of water on Earth is constant, but its distribution is not. Continents are experiencing a net loss of freshwater to the oceans through glacier melting and groundwater extraction, which is a rampant phenomenon in several countries, particularly India. The challenge, according to Prof. Uhlenbrook, is one of allocation. With 70% of freshwater used for agriculture and only 10-12% for drinking, massive gains in water security can be achieved by driving efficiency in farming and industry, thereby safeguarding domestic supply. When asked by the SUNS about growing cloudbursts, floods, and cyclones in India, where some conspiracy theories are suggesting that they are due to geo-engineering by some foreign powers, instead of worsening climate change, the three WMO officials suggested that science-based approaches must be adopted. Prof. Uhlenbrook foregrounded his response in basic physics: a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. For every degree of warming, the air can hold about 7% more water vapour, which ultimately leads to more intense rainfall when storms occur. The scale of the phenomena being witnessed, he stated, made the idea of geo-engineering unimaginable; these are natural processes supercharged by thermodynamics. Prof. Saulo and Ms. Mishra reinforced this by pointing to the science of attribution studies, which directly link the increased frequency and severity of specific extreme weather events to climate change. Erratic monsoons, catastrophic cloudbursts, and deadly landslides are not isolated incidents but part of a global pattern of “teleconnections” – where faraway processes are linked through complex atmospheric circulation, they said. CONCLUSION The report and the briefing by the WMO’s secretary-general and Prof. Uhlenbrook, based on scientific data and facts, issued a serious warning, namely that the stable water cycle that allowed human civilization to flourish is being replaced by a volatile and destructive one, and the evidence is global, scientific, and overwhelming. They said that the solutions are within reach, which start with a global commitment to measurement and monitoring – to stop “flying blind.” They also said the data provided in the report could influence policymakers to undertake massive investment “in adapting our infrastructure and reforming our water management policies, particularly in agriculture.” It requires unprecedented international collaboration to share information and resources, the authors of the report pointed out. Ultimately, the crisis of the water cycle is a crisis of governance and priority, the WMO officials said. “It demands that we move beyond debate and conspiracy and ground our response in irrefutable science.” The message from the experts was clear: the abnormal is now our reality. The choice staring in the faces of governments is one of using knowledge collaboration, and innovation to navigate this new and dangerous water world. +
|
||
