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October 7th, 2024
Truly alarming report from the World Meteorological Organization on global water resources & increasing water stress. 2023 was the driest year for rivers in 33 years. It also saw the greatest glacier melt in 50 years.
Along with its authoritative statistics, the report gets a lot right, including this spot on quote by the WMO secretary general, Celeste Saulo. “Water is the canary in the coalmine of climate change. We receive distress signals in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall, floods and droughts which wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems and economies. Melting ice and glaciers threaten long-term water security for many millions of people. And yet we are not taking the necessary urgent action.”
But it also misses some really key points.
Healthy flowing rivers provide much more than just water for households, agriculture and industry. They also flow with sediments and nutrients. They are home to freshwater fisheries that feed millions. And sustain a wealth of biodiversity, including countless species on land and in the ocean. And they are central to climate adaptation and resilience. Obviously, this is a report about water resources and water supplies but it should not overlook the other diverse benefits of healthy flowing rivers to people, nature & climate.
The driest year for rivers in 33 years will have had impacts well beyond just reduced water flows and increased water stress.
The report correctly calls for urgent action. Obviously, scaling up efforts to mitigate climate change is key to stabilising the hydrological cycle. And calling for more early warning systems in the face of more extreme weather events as well as more investment in data and monitoring – makes total sense.
But we also need to scale up investment in protecting and restoring our freshwater ecosystems. Healthy rivers, lakes and wetlands are the best natural defence against worsening water-related climate impacts, including extreme floods, droughts and storms. They are also central to enhancing water and food security, and reversing nature loss. And if we are worried about the level of water storage in reservoirs in the climate change era (and we should be), one key solution is to increase water storage in nature by restoring wetlands and helping to replenish aquifers.