The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently released its first State of Global Water Resources Report.
It aims to assess the impact of environmental, climatic and social changes on the world’s water resources.
Its objective is to support the monitoring and effective management of freshwater resources across the world at a time when the demand is high and supply is very limited.
In 2021, rivers in Africa like Niger, Volta, Nile and Congo experienced less than normal discharge.
Rivers in several parts of Russia, West Siberia and Central Asia also experienced lower-than-average discharge during the same period.
Major flood events occurred in China, north India, western Europe.
Countries affected by Tropical cyclones are like Mozambique, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have experienced several consecutive years of below-average rainfall
In 2021, places like the US’ west coast, central part of South America and Patagonia, North Africa and Madagascar, Central Asia and the Middle East, Pakistan and North India had below-normal terrestrial water storage.
In the long term, several places are expected to experience a negative trend in terrestrial water storage.
These include Rio Sao Francisco basin in Brazil, Patagonia, the Ganges and Indus headwaters and the south-western US.
The negative trends are stronger than the positive ones.