According to the UN, many regions of the world recorded droughts greater than normal in 2021
All regions of the world have experienced extreme water-related weather events in the past year, and billions of people still lack access to the precious liquid element, the United Nations warns.
Vast zones of the planet they recorded more dry spells than normal during 2021 under the influence of climate change and the La Nina phenomenon, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says in its first annual report on the state of global water resources.
The Agency compiled the report to help assess the impacts of climate, environmental and social change on the Earth’s water resources.
The annual report aims to monitor and manage the world’s limited freshwater resources, which will have to meet a growing demand.
“The effects of climate change are often felt through water, whether it’s more intense and frequent droughts, extreme floods, erratic seasonal rainfall, melting ice, phenomena that have a ripple effect on economies, ecosystems and all aspects of daily life. of life”.
However, our monitoring of changes in the distribution, quantity and quality of water resources is insufficient,” states WMO Secretary-General Petri Taalas.
Extreme phenomena
Today, 3.6 billion people are faced with inadequate access to water at least for one month per year.
This number will increase to at least 5 billion by 2050, according to the report, which also recalls that between 2001 and 2018, 74% of all natural disasters were linked to water.
“In 2021, all regions experienced extreme hydrological events in the form of floods and droughts, which had significant impacts on communities and caused a large number of deaths,” the report states.
Based on the average hydrological state of the last 30 years, extensive areas of the planet recorded longer than normal droughts in 2021. Rio de la Plata, in South Americahas experienced permanent drought since 2019, the southern and southeastern parts of the Amazon and the valleys of North America, mainly of the Colorado, Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
In Africa, stocks of rivers such as the Niger, Volta, Nile and Congo were below average in 2021. The same is true in some zones of the Russian Federation, western Siberia and central Asia.
Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are experiencing severe drought after several consecutive years of below-average rainfall.
In contrast, severe flooding caused large numbers of casualties, mainly in China’s Henan province, northern India, western Europe and countries affected by tropical cyclones such as Mozambique, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Frozen resources
The report notes that the cryosphere – glaciers, ice cover and permafrost – constitutes the largest natural reservoir of fresh water on Earth.
About 1.9 billion people live in zones fed by glaciers and melting ice.
Consequently, developments in the cryosphere have a significant impact on food security, human health, ecosystems and human development.
The report notes that globally, the melting of glaciers continued and accelerated in 2021.
RES-EMP
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