Record the final temperature year has pushed the global water cycle to “new climate extremes,” according to the organization's report. Global Water Monitoring Report 2024. The document by an international consortium led by researchers at the Australian National University claims that these climate anomalies have caused devastating floods and droughts that have killed more than 8,700 people, 40 million displaced people and economic losses exceeding $550 billion.
The report was produced by an international team and led by ANU professor Albert van Dijk. It is revealed that the year 2024 is warmest year so far for nearly 4 billion people in 111 countries, and air temperatures at the Earth's surface are 1.2 degrees Celsius higher than recorded at the turn of the century and 2.2 degrees Celsius higher than at the beginning of the century. began the Industrial Revolution.
Van Dijk asserts that water systems globally have been affected. “From historic droughts to catastrophic floods, these extreme climate changes impact lives, livelihoods and entire ecosystems. Water is our most important resource and its harsh conditions are one of the biggest threats we face,” he said.
The report authors analyzed data from thousands of ground stations and satellites that collect near real-time information on key water variables, including rainfall intensity and frequency, soil moisture and flood.
“We see rainfall records being broken with increasing regularity. For example, record high monthly precipitation totals are achieved 27% more often in 2024 than at the beginning of this century, while daily precipitation records are achieved 52% more often. Record lows happen 38% more often, so we are seeing worse extremes on both sides,” Van Dijk said.
As a result, sea surface temperatures have increased, increasing tropical storms and droughts in the Amazon basin and southern Africa, the study said. Global warming favors the formation of slower-moving storms in Europe, Asia, and Brazil, causing some areas—such as Valencia in Spain—to experience extremely high rainfall. Widespread flash floods occurred in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while rising water levels in the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers in southern China damaged crops.
“In Bangladesh, heavy monsoon rains and water releases from dams affected more than 5.8 million people and at least 1 million tons of rice were wiped out. In the Amazon River basin, forest fire due to hot, dry weather that devastated more than 52,000 square kilometers in September alone, releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases,” Van Dijk said.
The study adds that changes in the water cycle have increased food shortages, weakened shipping routes and disrupted hydroelectric power generation in some areas. “We need to prepare and adapt to the more serious extreme events that will inevitably occur. That could mean adopting stronger flood protection, developing new food production systems and more drought-resistant water supply networks,” Van Dijk suggests.
World leaders have pledged to implement measures and policies to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century, but the The World Cup has shown that current efforts are not enough. WMO estimates there is an 80% chance that average global temperatures will again exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in at least one of the next five years. The forecast shows that humanity is far from meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and raises new concerns about the progress of climate change.
Securing financing is another challenge. The United Nations Environment Program estimates that the financing gap for climate change adaptation is between $194 billion and $366 billion annually.
António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, has said that “we are hanging precariously on a planetary tightrope. Either leaders close the emissions gap or we are facing a climate disaster, with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most. The countdown to action has begun.”
This story originally appeared on Wired in Spanish and has been translated from Spanish.