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Geneva/New York, November 29 – An estimated 3.6 billion people currently have inadequate access to fresh water at least a month per year and that number will increase to more than 5 billion by 2050, the World Meteorological Organization said in its first ever State of Global Water Resources report.

The report said large areas of the globe were drier than normal in 2021 as climate change and La Nina effects severely influenced normal precipitation patterns. The areas in the world with below average streamflow were about twice larger than those with above average.

The report said 74 per cent of all natural disasters between 2001 and 2018 were water-related. With water shortage becoming a major global issue, the recent climate change summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, has decided for the first time to call on governments to further integrate water into their national climate adaptation efforts.

See report: State of Global Water Resources report 

Professor Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of WMO, said, “The impacts of climate change are often felt through water – more intense and frequent droughts, more extreme flooding, more erratic seasonal rainfall and accelerated melting of glaciers – with cascading effects on economies, ecosystems and all aspects of our daily lives. And yet, there is insufficient understanding of changes in the distribution, quantity, and quality of freshwater resources.”

“The State of Global Water Resources report aims to fill that knowledge gap and provide a concise overview of water availability in different parts of the world. This will inform climate adaptation and mitigation investments as well as the United Nations campaign to provide universal access in the next five years to early warnings of hazards such as floods and droughts,” he said.

Csaba Kőrösi,President of the U.N. General Assembly, welcomed the first report saying that it “fills an important knowledge gap, supporting the assessment of effects of climate, environmental and societal change on the Earth’s water resources. It confirms that the conception and sustainable implementation of resilient food and energy systems is possible based on informed scientific analysis. Knowing how much water is available where and when is key to water security as well as a catalyzer of cooperation.”

WMO said in a press release that its first edition of the global report looks at streamflow – the volume of water flowing through a river channel at any given time. It also assesses terrestrial water storage – all water on the land surface and sub-surface and the cryosphere (frozen water).

The press release said information and accompanying maps are largely based on modelled data (to achieve maximum geographical coverage) and remotely sensed information from NASA’s GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) mission for terrestrial water storage. The modelled results were validated against observed data, wherever available).

The report highlights the lack of accessible verified hydrological data. WMO’s Unified Data Policy seeks to accelerate the availability and sharing of hydrological data, including river discharge and transboundary river basins information.

(Following are excerpts from the press release)

Streamflow

Large areas of the globe recorded dryer than normal conditions in 2021, compared to the average of the 30-year hydrological base period.

These areas included South America’s Rio de la Plata area, where a persistent drought has affected the region since 2019, the South and South-East Amazon, and basins in North America including the Colorado, Missouri and Mississippi river basins.

In Africa, rivers such as the Niger, Volta, Nile and Congo had less than normal discharge in 2021. Similarly, rivers in parts of Russia, West Siberia and in Central Asia had lower than average discharge in 2021.

There was above normal river discharge in some Northern American basins, the North Amazon and Southern Africa (Zambezi and Orange), as well as China (the Amur river basin) and northern India.

Approximately one third of the areas analysed was in line with the 30-year average.

Significant flood events with numerous casualties were reported, among others, from China (Henan province), northern India, western Europe, and countries impacted by tropical cyclones, such as Mozambique, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have faced several consecutive years with below-average rainfall causing a regional drought.

Terrestrial water storage

Terrestrial water storage is all water on the land surface and in the subsurface.

In 2021, terrestrial water storage was classified as below normal (in comparison to average calculated from 2002-2020) on the West coast of the USA, in the central part of South America and Patagonia, North Africa and Madagascar, Central Asia and the Middle East, Pakistan and North India.

It was above normal in the central part of Africa, the northern part of South America, specifically the Amazon basin, and the northern part of China.

On a longer-term basis, the report pointed out several hotspots with a negative trend in terrestrial water storage. These include Brazil’s Rio São Francisco basin, Patagonia, the Ganges and Indus headwaters, as well as south-western USA.

In contrast, the Great Lakes Region exhibits a positive anomaly, as does the Niger basin, East African Rift and North Amazon basin.

Overall, the negative trends are stronger than the positive ones. Some of the hotspots are exacerbated by over-abstraction of groundwater for irrigation. The melting of snow and ice also has a significant impact in several areas including Alaska, Patagonia and the Himalayas.

The Cryosphere

The cryosphere (glaciers, snow cover, ice caps and, where present, permafrost) is the world’s biggest natural reservoir of freshwater. Mountains are often called natural “water towers” because they are the source of rivers and freshwater supplies for an estimated 1.9 billion people.

Changes to cryosphere water resources affect food security, human health, ecosystem integrity and maintenance, and leads to significant impacts on economic and social development. Such changes also cause hazards such as river flooding and flash floods due to glacier lake outbursts.

With rising temperatures, the annual glacier run-off typically increases at first, until a turning point, often called ”peak water”, is reached, upon which run-off declines. The long-term projections of the changes in glacier run-off and the timing of peak water are key inputs to long-term adaptation decisions.

Future assessments in the WMO State of Global Water Resources will provide the incentive to regularly assess changes in the cryosphere and the variability of water resources, at basin and regional level.

Media contact: Clare Nullis, WMO media officer, cnullis@wmo.int. Tel +41-79 709 13 97

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Sharm el-Sheikh/New York, November 20 – The climate change summit has agreed to set up a fund to compensate vulnerable countries hit by climate disasters, a deal the U.N. said is a step towards justice for victims of climate change.

The summit attended by some 200 governments and international organizations ended on overtime in the Egyptian resort with a final document that disappointed climate activists, particularly regarding the issues of fossil fuels use and rising atmospheric temperatures.

“This COP has taken an important step towards justice,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, referring to the 27^th Conference of Parties on climate change. “I welcome the decision to establish a loss and damage fund and to operationalize it in the coming period.”

But Guterres said, “Clearly this will not be enough, but it is a much-needed political signal to rebuild broken trust.”

Expressing his disappointment, Guterres pointed out that the final document left critical climate issues untouched.

“We need to drastically reduce emissions now – and this is an issue this COP did not address,” he said.

Negotiators at the summit under the Egyptian presidency adopted the deal known as loss and damage sought by poor countries to get developed nations, including the biggest carbon polluters like China and the United States, to pay for damage caused by floodings, wildfires and the likes.

But details of the agreement to create a fund for loss and damage such as which countries and how much will they contribute to the fund remain to be sort out at future talks.  

The agreement on the loss and damage program helped the two-week long summit to adopt a final document on climate change. The loss and damage program and creation of a new financial facility to compensate for climate disasters were key demands of developing countries.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, president of the climate meeting, said decisions taken by negotiators before they adopted the final document were “a gateway that will scale up implementation and will enable us to transform to future of climate future neutrality and climate resilient development.”

“I call upon all of you to view these draft decisions not merely as words on paper but as a collective message to the world that we have heeded the call of our leaders and of current and future generations to set the right pace and direction for the implementation of the Paris agreement and the achievement of its goals.”

“The world is watching, I call on us all to rise to the expectations entrusted to us by the global community, and especially by those who are most vulnerable and yet have contributed the least to climate change.”

Negotiators concluded the meeting with the adoption of the loss and damage facility with a commitment to financially support vulnerable countries by the next climate summit in 2023 as well as the post-2025 financial goal for mitigation work program to reduce emissions faster, catalyze impactful action, and secure assurances from key countries that they will take immediate action to raise ambition and keep us on the path towards 1.5 degrees Celsius.

When the summit opened on November 6, it was strongly urged to implement programs agreed at previous meetings such as reduce emissions and finance projects to help countries adapt to climate consequences.

The U.N. said over 40,000 people have registered to attend, including government officials of the 197 countries that signed the UNFCCC, businesses, non-government organizations and civil society groups. The U.N. said COP27 programs include finance, science, youth and future generations, decarbonization, adaptation and agriculture, gender, water, energy, biodiversity and solutions.

At the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021, governments agreed to act on  climate plans agreed upon at the Paris conference in 2015, which called for limiting atmospheric warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the centuryand for developed countries to provide $100 billion a year to assist developing countries.

But a study published by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on October 26 said plans submitted by countries to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to earth warming, have failed their targets and temperatures may rise to at least 2.5 C, a level deemed catastrophic.

(By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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Sharm el-Sheikh/New York, November 18 – The annual climate change summit attended by some 200 governments and international organizations failed to agree on a final document as it was closing and would need more time, the president of the meeting said citing outstanding climate-related issues.

The 27th Conference of the Parties (November 6-18) at the Egyptian resort city will close one day later than expected after calling on negotiators to “shift gears” so an agreement can be reached on the remaining sticking points, U.N. News reported.

“I remain concerned at the number of outstanding issues, including on finance mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and their inter linkages,” COP27 President, Sameh Shoukry, told delegates at the Sharm el-Sheik International Convention Centre.

U.N. News said Secretary-General António Guterres held separate intensive talks with members of the European Union and the Group of 77 and China, which groups developing countries, to spur negotiations on the final text.

“As the negotiations draw to a close, the Secretary-General urges parties to aim for maximum ambition on loss and damage and in reduction of emissions,” the U.N. leaders said in a note issued in Sharm el-Sheikh by his spokesperson.

The document under negotiations reaffirmed the 1.5-degree Celsius target to curb global warming and welcomes reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It also called for “deep, rapid emission cuts” as well as an acceleration of clean energy transitions in the 2020s.

The document also keeps language reached at the 2021 climate summit in Glasgow on “phasing down coal power” and calls on parties to “rationalise fossil fuel subsidies” and urges new climate action national plans by 2023, UN News said. The document welcomes the loss and damage agenda item, but it does not mention the creation or a funding facility.

The European Union has presented an official proposal for creating a loss and damage fund, sparking hope for what some delegations from developing countries said might be a “breakthrough.”

As the negotiations on the final document dragged on and appeared to miss the deadline on closing date, Guterres said, “There is clearly a breakdown in trust between North and South, and between developed and emerging economies. This is no time for finger-pointing. The blame game is a recipe for mutually assured destruction.”

“The world is watching and has a simple message: stand and deliver,” Guterres said at the conference center.

When the summit opened on November 6, it was strongly urged to implement programs agreed at previous meetings such as reduce emissions and finance projects to help countries adapt to climate consequences.

The U.N. said over 40,000 people have registered to attend, including government officials of the 197 countries that signed the UNFCCC, businesses, non-government organizations and civil society groups. The U.N. said COP27 programs include finance, science, youth and future generations, decarbonization, adaptation and agriculture, gender, water, energy, biodiversity and solutions.

At the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021, governments agreed to act on  climate plans agreed upon at the Paris conference in 2015, which called for limiting atmospheric warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the centuryand for developed countries to provide $100 billion a year to assist developing countries.

But a study published by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on October 26 said plans submitted by countries to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to earth warming, have failed their targets and temperatures may rise to at least 2.5 C, a level deemed catastrophic

Guterres said in a message at the opening of COP27 that the last eight years have been the warmest on record, “making every heatwave more intense and life-threatening, especially for vulnerable populations.”

Citing a report by the World Meteorological Organization, he said, “Sea levels are rising at twice the speed of the 1990s – posing an existential threat for low-lying island states, and threatening billions of people in coastal regions. Glacier melt records are themselves melting away – jeopardizing water security for whole continents.”

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Sharm el-Sheikh/New York, November 7 – Making a bold move, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres proposed a historic Climate Solidarity Pact in which countries can cooperate to reduce emissions and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Guterres challenged rich countries to lead the fight against climate change, urging China and the United States, the world’s biggest emitters, to join and assume their own particular responsibility to make the pact a reality.

To limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, the world must achieve global net zero emissions by 2050, he said, but added that the 1.5-degree goal is now on “life support” and the world is close to the point of no return. He called on all G20, which groups the developing and emerging countries, to accelerate their transition to clean energy this decade to avoid that fate.

“Developed countries must take the lead,” he said in an address to the Leaders at COP27. “But emerging economies are also critical to bending the global emissions curve.”

“I am calling for a historic Pact between developed and emerging economies – a Climate Solidarity Pact.” he said.

He said the pact will allow “all countries to make an extra effort to reduce emissions this decade in line with the 1.5-degree goal. Wealthier countries and International Financial Institutions provide financial and technical assistance to help emerging economies speed their own renewable energy transition.”

The pact aims at “ending dependence on fossil fuels and the building of coal plants – phasing out coal in OECD countries by 2030 and everywhere else by 2040.”

The pact will “provide universal, affordable, sustainable energy for all” and “in which developed and emerging economies unite around a common strategy and combine capacities and resources for the benefit of humankind.”

Loss and damage

For the first time the issue of loss and damage payments has been added to the agenda of a COP summit following negotiations by the Group of 77 (countries) and China, a move demanded by developing countries and supported by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)

Developing and vulnerable countries have suffered the worst impacts of climate change and have demanded developed countries, which are responsible for the worst emissions, to pay for those damages.

“Loss and damage has to be credibly addressed and the time has come for us to do so. The real test will be the quality of the discussions. The judgement will be based on the quality of the outcome,” Simon Stiell, head of the U.N. Climate Change, said after COP27 included the item on the agenda of work.

(By J.Tuyet Nguyen)

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Sharm el-Sheikh/New York, November 6 – The climate summit opening in the famed Egyptian tourist city of Sharm el-Sheikh is strongly urged to implement programs agreed at previous meetings such as reduce emissions and finance projects to help countries adapt to climate consequences.

The U.N. said over 30,000 people have registered to attend the summit running from November 6 to 18 at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Convention Centre. They include government officials of the 197 countries that signed the UNFCCC, businesses, non-government organizations and civil society groups. The U.N. said COP27 programs include finance, science, youth and future generations, decarbonization, adaptation and agriculture, gender, water, energy, biodiversity and solutions.

This year’s high-level meeting is known as the 27^th Conference of the Parties, or COP27. At the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021, governments agreed to act on  climate plans agreed upon at the Paris conference in 2015, which called for limiting atmospheric warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the centuryand for developed countries to provide $100 billion a year to assist developing countries.

But a study published by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on October 26 said plans submitted by countries to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to earth warming, have failed their targets and temperatures may rise to at least 2.5 C, a level deemed catastrophic

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a message to the opening of COP27 that the last eight years have been the warmest on record, “making every heatwave more intense and life-threatening, especially for vulnerable populations.”

Citing a report by the World Meteorological Organization, he said, “Sea levels are rising at twice the speed of the 1990s – posing an existential threat for low-lying island states, and threatening billions of people in coastal regions. Glacier melt records are themselves melting away – jeopardizing water security for whole continents.

“People and communities everywhere must be protected from the immediate and ever-growing risks of the climate emergency. That is why we are pushing so hard for universal early warning systems within five years. We must answer the planet’s distress signal with action — ambitious, credible climate action. COP27 must be the place – and now must be the time.”

A report issued by the U.N. Environment Program – Adaptation Gap Report 2022 – ahead of COP27 called for increasing funding and implementing programs devised to assist vulnerable countries and communities deal with climate emergencies. It estimated annual funding at between $160 billion and $340 billion by 2030 and $565 billion by 2050.   

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, said, “Climate change is landing blow after blowupon humanity, as we saw throughout 2022: most viscerally in the floods that put much of Pakistan under water. The world must urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the impacts of climate change. But we must also urgently increase efforts to adapt to the impacts that are already here and those to come.”  

World Health Organization: climate crisis spread diseases

WHO said health must be front and center of COP27 because the climate crisis continues to cause sickness and jeopardize lives and that health must be at the core of critical climate negotiations. It called on the summit to conclude with progress on the four key goals of mitigation, adaptation, financing and collaboration to tackle the climate crisis.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said. “Climate change is making millions of people sick or more vulnerable to disease all over the world and the increasing destructiveness of extreme weather events disproportionately affects poor and marginalized communities. It is crucial that leaders and decision makers come together at COP27 to put health at the heart of the negotiations.”

WHO said climate change is expected to cause approximately 250.000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress between 2030 and 2050.

It said the direct damage costs to health (excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation), is estimated at between $2 and $4 billion per year by 2030.

(By J.Tuyet Nguyen)

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