Latest record temperatures year pushed the global water cycle to “new climatic extremes,” according to the Global Water Monitor Report 2024. The document, prepared by an international consortium led by researchers from the Australian National University, states that these climate anomalies caused devastating floods and droughts that caused more than 8,700 deaths, the displacement of 40 million people and economic losses exceeding 550 billion of dollars.
The report was carried out by an international team and led by ANU professor Albert van Dijk. It reveals that 2024 was the warmest year yet for almost 4 billion people in 111 countries, and that air temperatures above the Earth’s surface were 1.2 degrees Celsius higher than those documented at the beginning of the century and 2.2 degrees Celsius higher than at the beginning of the century. the Industrial Revolution.
Van Dijk says water systems around the world were affected. “From historic droughts to catastrophic floods, these severe climate variations affect lives, livelihoods and entire ecosystems. “Water is our most important resource and its extreme conditions are among the greatest threats we face,” he says.
The report’s authors analyzed data from thousands of ground and satellite stations that collect near real-time information on critical water variables, including rainfall intensity and frequency, soil moisture and flooding.
“We found that rainfall records are being broken with increasing regularity. For example, record monthly rainfall levels were reached 27 percent more frequently in 2024 than at the beginning of this century, while daily rainfall records were reached 52 percent more frequently. Record lows were 38 percent more frequent, so we are seeing worse extremes on both sides,” says Van Dijk.
The research states that as a consequence, sea surface temperatures increased, intensifying tropical cyclones and droughts in the Amazon basin and southern Africa. Global warming favored the formation of slower-moving storms in Europe, Asia and Brazil, subjecting some regions (such as Valencia in Spain) to extremely high levels of rainfall. Widespread flash flooding occurred in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while rising levels of the Yangtze and Pearl rivers in southern China damaged rice crops.
“In Bangladesh, heavy monsoon rains and the release of water from dams affected more than 5.8 million people, and at least 1 million tons of rice were washed away. In the Amazon Basin, wildfires sparked by hot, dry weather devastated more than 52,000 square kilometers in September alone, releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases,” says Van Dijk.
The study adds that changes in the water cycle intensified food shortages, damaged shipping routes and disrupted hydroelectric power generation in some regions. “We need to prepare and adapt to inevitably more severe extreme events. That may mean adopting stronger defenses against floods, developing new food production systems and water supply networks that are more resistant to drought,” 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 the century, but the World Meteorological Organization has said current efforts are insufficient. The WMO estimates that there is an 80 percent chance that the global average temperature will once again exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in at least one of the next five years. The projection suggests that humanity is far from meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and raises new concerns about the advance of climate change.
Another challenge is obtaining financial resources. The United Nations Environment Program estimates that the financing gap for climate change adaptation ranges between $194 billion and $366 billion per year.
António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, has said that “we are teetering on a planetary tightrope. Either leaders close the emissions gap or we are hurtling towards a climate disaster, with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most. The countdown to action has begun.”
This story originally appeared on Spanish wiring and has been translated from Spanish.