World climate body chief warns of looming water crisis

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) - The number of people suffering water stress is expected to soar, aggravated by population increase and dwindling availability, the head of the world's climate organization said Tuesday, releasing a new report.

According to figures cited in the State of Climate Services 2021 report, some 3.6 billion people had inadequate access to water at least one month per year in 2018. By 2050, this is expected to rise to more than 5 billion.

"Lack of water continues to be a major cause of concern for many nations, especially in Africa. More than two billion people live in water-stressed countries and suffer a lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation,” said World Meteorological Organization’s Secretary-General Petteri Taalas at a news conference.

He said that water-related hazards have increased in frequency over the past 20 years, adding: "We need to wake up to the looming water crisis."

"Increasing temperatures are resulting in global and regional precipitation changes, leading to shifts in rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons, with a major impact on food security and human health and well-being," Taalas said.

He said water highlights the need for urgent action to improve cooperative resource management and integrated water and climate policies, and increased investment in such a precious commodity.

- Massive flooding

"This past year has seen a continuation of extreme, water-related events. Across Asia, extreme rainfall caused massive flooding in Japan, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and India,” Taalas said.

"Millions of people were displaced, and hundreds were killed. But it is not just in the developing world that flooding has led to major disruption. Catastrophic flooding in Europe led to hundreds of deaths and widespread damage," he added.

Taalas welcomed as great news the announcement earlier Tuesday that US-Japanese scientist Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann of Germany, and Giorgio Parisi of Italy won the Nobel Physics Prize for climate models and the understanding of physical systems.

"The previous Nobel prize that was given to climate science was when the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was the winner (in 2007), and this is again demonstrating that climate science is highly valued," said the WMO chief.

The announcement came ahead of the Nov. 1-12 COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, where global warming will be high on the agenda.

"A key issue for the COP26 is that we should raise our ambition in climate mitigation. That's, of course, number one. But we also have to pay attention to climate adaptation. And since the negative trend in weather patterns will continue for the coming decades," Taalas said.

Since 2000, flood-related disasters have risen by 134% compared with the two previous decades, according to the report.

Most flood-related deaths and economic losses were recorded in Asia, where end-to-end warning systems for riverine floods require strengthening, it said.