Climate change, water crisis, La Nina, drought, floods, and the cryosphere are some of the prevalent issues today, with significant impacts on the world’s geography, such as the Indo-Gengetic Plain. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently released its first annual State of Global Water Resources Report 2021 to address these concerns.
Purpose of the Report
The WMO’s Global Water Resources Report aims to aid the monitoring and management of global freshwater resources in an era marked by escalating demands and limited supplies. It primarily focuses on three areas: streamflow, terrestrial water storage (TWS), and the cryosphere.
Key Findings
The report revealed that between 2001 and 2018, a whopping 74% of all natural disasters were water-related. Furthermore, 3.6 billion people have inadequate access to water at least one month per year, a figure predicted to climb to over five billion by 2050.
Impact on Regions: Streamflow
In 2021, large global areas experienced drier-than-normal conditions influenced by climate change and a La Nina event. Drought prevailed in South America’s Rio de la Plata region since 2019. In Africa, major rivers like Niger, Volta, Nile, and Congo had reduced water flow in 2021, a trend also observed in rivers in parts of Russia, West Siberia, and Central Asia. Conversely, some North American basins, North Amazon, South Africa, China’s Amur River basin, and northern India depicted above-average river volumes.
Impact on Terrestrial Cover
Terrestrial water storage differed globally. While it fell short of normal in places like the United States’ west coast, central South America and Patagonia, North Africa and Madagascar, Central Asia, the Middle East, Pakistan, and North India, it was above average in Central Africa, northern South America – specifically the Amazon Basin – and northern China.
Changes in the Cryosphere
Mountains, serving as critical “water towers,” supply rivers and freshwater to approximately 1.9 billion people. Alterations to cryosphere water resources directly impact food security, human health, ecosystem integrity, and societal and economic development.
Impact on India: The Indo-Gangetic Plain
The report provides additional evidence of global warming’s intensifying impact on the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), spanning eastern Pakistan, northern India, southern Nepal, and Bangladesh. The Ganga-Brahmaputra and Indus basins recorded more river channel water due to glacial melt, even as their total water storage declined in 2021 – a highly alarming finding given the IGP’s nearly half-billion population.
Recommendations
To mitigate these concerns, the report highlights the need for a greater understanding of changes in freshwater resources’ distribution, quantity, and quality. It also urges the development of efficient drought and flood early warning systems. Further, the report recommends accelerating the availability and sharing of hydrological data, including river discharge and transboundary river basin information.
About World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
The WMO is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 193 Member States and Territories, including India. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) established after the 1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress and became a United Nations specialized agency in 1950, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.