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Conférence de presse de l'ONU à Genève - 10 mai 2024
BRIEFING DE PRESSE DE L'ONU À GENÈVE
10 mai 2024
Rolando Gómez, chef de la section de la presse et des relations extérieures au Service d'information des Nations Unies à Genève, a présidé un briefing hybride, auquel ont participé les porte-parole et les représentants du Bureau de la coordination des affaires humanitaires, du Fonds des Nations Unies pour l'enfance, de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé, du Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés, de l'Organisation météorologique mondiale et de l'Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle.
Situation dans le territoire palestinien occupé
Georgios Petropoulos, chef du sous-bureau du Bureau de la coordination des affaires humanitaires (OCHA) à Gaza, a déclaré que la situation avait atteint des niveaux d'urgence encore plus sans précédent, suite à l'opération militaire israélienne à Rafah. Le plus grand obstacle aux activités humanitaires venait du fait que tous les passages à Rafah étaient désormais fermés. Le mouvement du personnel humanitaire et les évacuations médicales des civils étaient limités. L'OCHA travaillait avec les États membres pour trouver une solution rapide et durable pour acheminer du carburant et de l'aide humanitaire à Rafah, car le manque de carburant aurait des effets immédiats et néfastes. La protection des civils et l'afflux de fournitures devaient rester des priorités. Sans carburant, de nombreux hôpitaux, cliniques mobiles et ambulances ne pourraient pas fonctionner. La production d'eau potable à Rafah avait déjà cessé, a-t-il déclaré. À ce jour, sur les 12 boulangeries du sud de Gaza, huit avaient dû cesser leur activité en raison du manque de carburant. À moins que l'approvisionnement en carburant ne reprenne immédiatement, les activités humanitaires, de communication et bancaires devraient toutes cesser dans les prochains jours, a averti M. Petropoulos.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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