‘No end’ expected to devastation from water-related emergencies, says UN weather agency
The world’s water resources face growing pressure from climate change while emergencies involving the vital resource are increasingly impacting lives and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
“Water-related hazards continue to cause major devastation this year,” said Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General. “The latest examples are the devastating monsoon flooding in Pakistan, floods in South Sudan and the deadly flash-floods in the Indonesian island of Bali. And unfortunately, we see no end to this trend.”
Ms. Saulo noted that these emergencies have been happening amid increasingly warm air temperatures, which allow more water to be held in the atmosphere leading to heavier rainfall.
Her comments coincided with the publication of a new WMO report on the state of the world’s waterways, snow and ice which notes that 2024 was the hottest in 175 years of observation, with the annual mean surface temperature reaching 1.55 °C above the pre-industrial baseline from 1850 to 1900.
Against this backdrop in September 2024, central and eastern Europe experienced devastating flash-floods caused by deadly Storm Boris which uprooted tens of thousands of people. Similar disasters are likely to happen more often, even though they should - in theory - be extremely rare, the UN agency maintained.
“In the Czech Republic, several rivers had such an extreme flood event that actually statistically should only occur every 100 years,” said Stefan Uhlenbrook, WMO Director of Hydrology, Water and Cryosphere Division. “A ‘century event’ happened…unfortunately, statistics show that these extreme events might come even more frequent.”
Another example of the increasingly erratic behaviour of the world’s water cycle is the extremely heavy rainfall that has affected parts of Himachal Pradesh or Jammu and Kashmir. “The region saw extremely heavy rainfall when it was not expected; the monsoon came early,” said Sulagna Mishra, WMO Scientific Officer. “So, this is what we are talking about as the unpredictability of the system is growing, more and more.”
Turning to the impact of last year’s pronounced El Niño weather phenomenon, WMO’s report indicates that it contributed to severe drought in the Amazon basin last year. Equally, northwest Mexico and the northern part of North America saw below-average rainfall, as did southern and southeastern Africa. “El Niño at the start of 2024 played a role,” explained Ms. Saulo, “but scientific evidence shows that our changing climate and rising temperatures lead to more extreme events, both droughts and floods.”
Among the WMO report’s other findings, it confirms wetter-than-normal conditions over central-western Africa, Lake Victoria in Africa, Kazakhstan and southern Russia, central Europe, Pakistan and northern India, southern Iran and north-eastern China in 2024.
One of the key messages of the UN agency report is that what happens to the water cycle in one part of the world has a direct bearing on another.
“It's not local,” insisted Ms. Mishra. “You see the…impact of melting glaciers in the Arctic and these are impacting the monsoons through the large circulation patterns. It is impacting the monsoon in Asia or we see hurricanes in the Pacific and we know through studies that these are all connected.”
Melting glaciers continue to be a major concern for meteorologists because of the speed at which they are disappearing and their existential threat to communities downstream and in coastal areas.
“In terms of glaciers, 2024 was the third straight year with widespread glacial loss across all regions,” Ms. Saulo said. “Glaciers lost 450 gigatonnes, this is the equivalent of a huge block of ice seven kilometres in height, seven kilometres wide and seven kilometres deep, or 180 million Olympic swimming pools, enough to add about 1.2 millimetres to global sea level, increasing the risk of floods for hundreds of millions of people on the coasts.”
The report also highlights the critical need for improved data-sharing on streamflow, groundwater, soil moisture and water quality, which remain heavily under-monitored.
The WMO's 2024 State of Global Water Resources report is a WMO flagship product that presents an overall picture of available water resources globally, allowing for the assessment of status of water resources.
The report highlights a critical need for more investment, international collaboration, improved monitoring and data sharing, to improve early warning.
ends
STORY: WMO - world water monitor
TRT: 3’00”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 18 SEPTEMBER 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Speaker:
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday welcomed the Nobel Peace Prize committee’s decision to name Maria Machado as this year’s laureate, in recognition of her work promoting the Venezuelan people’s democratic hopes.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , UNICEF , WHO
As Gazans jammed the main route leading north on Friday after a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was announced, UN aid teams repeated their call to open all crossings into the devastated enclave to prevent famine spreading.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF , WHO
Two years of Gaza-Israel war bring ‘indescribable’ pain: UN humanitarians
Two years since the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, UN humanitarians on Tuesday reiterated calls for the release of all hostages in Gaza, an immediate ceasefire and an aid surge to alleviate Palestinians’ suffering, as talks on a US-driven peace plan continued in Egypt.
1
1
1
Edited News
Syria prison survivor seeks justice for the missing with UN backing.
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday warned that three and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine has entered an even more dangerous and deadly stage for Ukrainian civilians, under relentless bombardment of their schools, hospitals, and shelters.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO , ICRC
Quadcopter victims, terror and death: 30 minutes in a Gaza hospital
UN aid teams on Friday highlighted the disturbing situation in Gaza’s makeshift hospitals, where premature babies cry for scant oxygen and medics attempt to save child survivors targeted by airstrikes in their tents and quadcopter victims reportedly shot while fetching bread.
2
1
2
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Thursday delivered his oral update to the UN Human Rights Council’s 60th session on the human rights situation in Haiti.
The High Commissioner welcomed Wednesday’s decision of the UN Security Council to strengthen the Multinational Security Support mission by transitioning to the Gang Suppression Force for Haiti, stating it is a strong signal of international support for the Haitian people.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: As world waits for US peace plan news, UN aid teams stress need for ceasefire
UN agencies reiterated calls for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday to help alleviate Palestinian suffering, as a new US 20-point plan raised hopes of a halt to the fighting.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
The ongoing Israeli military offensive in Gaza City continues to overwhelm the war-torn enclave’s medical professionals, with four more hospitals forced to shut down this month alone, the UN World Health Organization said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
A UN Human Rights report released today details the dire situation of thousands of civilians detained since Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine in 2022.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF
Sudan war: Life-saving cholera vaccination campaign begins in Darfur
Amid the devastating war in Sudan, UN aid teams are overcoming major obstacles to curb a cholera outbreak claiming lives across the country, with young children particularly at risk.
2
1
2
Edited News , B-roll | UN WOMEN
Women and girls still reeling from Afghanistan's recent deadly earthquake face even greater suffering rebuilding their lives and livelihoods without much more help from the international community, UN Women said on Friday.