More than five billion people are expected to face inadequate water access at least once a month per year due to severe climate change which causes extreme weather events such as flooding and frequent drought. All are having cascading effects one economies, ecosystems and all aspect of daily lives. This is the result of the first report of the State of Global Water Resources in 2021 published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
“Today we have 2,3 billion inhabitants of the planet which are suffering from water challenges and by 2050 we expect to see up to 5 billion people suffering from those,” said Professor Petteri Taalas, WMO’s Secretary-General.
From 2001 to 2018, 74 per cent of all natural disasters were water-related, according to UN studies. The report gives an overview of how climate change is reducing river levels and melting glaciers as global temperatures are more than 1,1 °C higher than in pre-industrial times.
The recent UN climate change conference, COP27, urged that governments should integrate water into adaption efforts – the first-time water has been referenced in a COP outcome document.
“This COP decided to endorse an investment of the 3.1 billion USD for the coming five years to improve the basic observing infrastructure of meteorology and hydrology and also early warning service skills in half of the member countries of WMO”, said Professor Taalas.
Last year, all regions suffered devastating water extremes, the report said. Significant flood events were reported with numerous casualties, among others, from China, northern, India and western Europe.
“We had this very severe flooding even here in Europe. In Germany and Belgium, where we had all together almost 300 casualties, which is demonstrating that not even the developed world is protected from such things to happen,” said WMO’s Secretary-General. He added that the “most dramatic one has been the flooding in Pakistan where we had low-pressure areas moving day by day along the same paths, and that was having major impacts on the well-being of the people and economies. Up to one third of the country was in the worst case flooded.”
The report also shows that large parts of the world were drier than normal in 2021.
“Then we saw these severe heat waves and drought here in Europe, in China and also in western parts of United States and there was also one hurricane which was hitting both USA and Cuba », said Professor Taalas. “The biggest impact of the hurricane was felt through water. It was very much flooding.”
Drought in the Horn of Africa has led to a devastating food crisis affecting 18 million people. Not even intense rainfall between December 2020 to February 2021, typically the dry season in the region, helped alleviate the situation.
The report said about 1.9 billion people lived in areas where drinking water was supplied by glaciers and snow melt, but these glaciers are melting increasingly fast.
According to Professor Taals, “here in Switzerland, we have just broken less comfortable record in melting of Alpine glaciers. During the past 20 years, we have seen decrease of the Alpine Glacier, but we were hitting the record last summer when we lost 6.2% of the glacier because of the heat wave.”
The report said governments must increase their actions in introducing of early warning systems for floods and droughts to help reduce the effects of water extremes.
-ends-
STORY: First global water resources report - WMO
TRT: 2 mins 50s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 29 November 2022, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Un nouveau rapport du Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l'homme sur la République démocratique du Congo évoque le spectre de crimes de guerre et de crimes contre l'humanité dans le Nord et le Sud-Kivu.,
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
A high-level independent rights probe into the Sudan crisis on Tuesday condemned the many grave crimes committed against civilians by all parties to the war, citing disturbing evidence indicating that they had been “deliberately targeted, displaced and starved”.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Ukraine: ‘Relentless’ attacks rattle health system as winter approaches: WHO
Ambulances attacked, chronically ill patients lacking care and no peace in sight: for millions of Ukrainians, the run-up to another winter of war is just the latest life-or-death challenge they face, the UN health agency (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his report on Sri Lanka to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
A UN report on the Democratic Republic of Congo raises specter of war crimes and crimes against humanity in North and South Kivu, according to UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
As billions of people continue to breathe polluted air that causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths every year, UN climate experts on Friday highlighted how damaging microscopic smoke particles from wildfires play their part, travelling half-way across the world.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence made the following comment on the on-going presidential election process in Cameroon at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights Office released a new report on Myanmar, describing death, destruction and desperation which reflect atrocities committed in 2017.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , IFRC , UNHCR
Afghanistan: Humanitarians scramble to reach survivors of deadly quake; response at ‘breaking point’
In remote eastern Afghanistan, aid workers are racing to assist survivors of Sunday’s devastating earthquake as the death toll continues to climb, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, repeated his urgent call for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, amid increased military Israeli activity in the enclave’s largest city.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Amid reports of increased Israeli military operations across Gaza City on Friday, UN aid agencies repeated urgent warnings of ongoing famine and a likely rise in preventable disease, linked to the dire living conditions in the war-shattered enclave.