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drought
Global Water Woes the 'Canary in the Coal Mine' for Climate Calamity: WMO
"As a result of rising temperatures, the hydrological cycle has accelerated. It has also become more erratic and unpredictable, and we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water," the WMO lead said.
Oct 07, 2024
The climate crisis is destabilizing the world's water cycle, depriving millions of people of the freshwater resources they need while inundating others with deadly and catastrophic floods.
That's the picture painted by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)'s third-ever State of Global Water Resources report, released on Monday, which found that 2023 was the driest year for the world's rivers in more than three decades.
"Water is the canary in the coalmine of climate change," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said in a statement. "We receive distress signals in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall, floods, and droughts which wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems, and economies."
A total of 3.6 billion people struggle to access sufficient water for at least one month per year, according to U.N. Water, and this number is projected to swell to over 5 billion by 2050. In 2023, which was also the hottest year on record, river catchment areas around the world were at their driest in 33 years. As in the two years before, more than half of all catchment areas saw abnormal conditions, with most of them seeing below-average water flow.
Especially hard-hit river systems included the Mississippi and Amazon basins, which shrank to record-low water levels, as well as riparian systems in much of Northern, Central, and South America. Argentina's GDP shrank by 3% due to drought, the WMO found. Meanwhile, the report showed how major river systems in Asia—the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Mekong river basins—were drier than usual across almost all of their reach.
Another threat to freshwater access is the melting of glaciers. In 2023, the world's glaciers lost their greatest amount of mass in 50 years at over 600 metric gigatons of water. This ice loss was primarily driven by melting in western North America and Europe's Alps. Switzerland's glaciers shrank by 10% in two years.
"It was either too dry or too wet—and neither is encouraging."
"The worldwide loss of glacier volume, equivalent to 600 gigatons of water according to the latest WMO report, is alarming," said report contributor Robert Reinecke of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. "It is the greatest loss we have witnessed in the past five decades."
Saulo added: "Melting ice and glaciers threaten long-term water security for many millions of people. And yet we are not taking the necessary urgent action."
While 2023 saw drought and ice melt, its high temperatures combined with the shift from La Niña to El Niño halfway through and the positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole also fueled extreme precipitation events.
"It was either too dry or too wet—and neither is encouraging," Reinecke said. "We have to expect both extremes more frequently as global temperatures continue to rise."
Africa saw the deadliest flooding, with Storm Daniel causing a dam collapse in Libya that killed more than 11,000 people in September 2023. Also hard hit were the Greater Horn of Africa, Congo, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Malawi.
"As a result of rising temperatures, the hydrological cycle has accelerated," Saulo said. "It has also become more erratic and unpredictable, and we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture which is conducive to heavy rainfall. More rapid evaporation and drying of soils worsen drought conditions."
To respond to these shifting conditions, WMO urged more monitoring and data sharing and said that the Early Warnings for All initiative must cover water-related hazards.
"Far too little is known about the true state of the world's freshwater resources," Saulo said. "We cannot manage what we do not measure. This report seeks to contribute to improved monitoring, data-sharing, cross-border collaboration, and assessments."
In response to the report, water advocate Mina Guli also called for increased conservation efforts.
"To tackle this crisis, we must invest more resources into protecting and restoring our freshwater ecosystems. Healthy rivers, lakes, and wetlands do so much more than provide water—they are our best defense against the worsening impacts of climate change and play a crucial role in ensuring food and water security while also reversing nature loss," Guli wrote on social media.
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Stop the Corporate Arsonists Torching Portugal and the Planet
Company managers knew they were condemning people to death, devastation, and extinction through climate and social collapse with their actions. That didn’t stop them.
Oct 04, 2024
In just six days, 121,000 hectares burned, seven people died, and over a hundred were injured in the fires that ravaged Portugal. Luís Montenegro, the country’s prime minister, faced with this calamity, promised to go “after those responsible” who, “in the name of private interests, are capable of jeopardizing the rights, freedoms, and guarantees, and the very lives” of citizens. This is a bold statement. Arson and blame in the face of the fires that annually devastate the country are a permanent reality.
We speak of arson when referring to the intentional and deliberate act of igniting a fire. For example, it is considered arson if someone sets fire to a forested area, whether motivated by malice, economic reasons, or merely for fun. In Portugal, arson is a variable that is far from explaining the devastating fires that destroy lives each year. Like in other Mediterranean countries, about one-third of the fires have a criminal, deliberate origin. However, the final outcome of these ignitions in Portugal is significantly different from that of countries that can be compared to ours.
The atmospheric conditions, increasingly characteristic of the Mediterranean territory—extreme drought and heat—combined with strong winds, low humidity, and nighttime heat, along with abandoned lands and extensive eucalyptus monocultures, create the perfect conditions for fires to ignite with the proportions and impacts of those that killed 66 people in Pedrogão Grande in 2017, 45 people on October 15 of the same year, and seven people in the fires of mid-September this year.
We can be certain that for these companies, the destruction of our lives will not lead to a reduction in profitability—at least until there is nothing left to destroy.
These conditions are neither “natural” nor mere coincidence. They derive from intentional acts, the consequences of which were known and taken into account by companies and governments. For decades, major emitting companies have been aware of the impacts of burning fossil fuels and the greenhouse gas emissions from their economic activities. They knew that these impacts would lead to loss of life on a global scale and could culminate in the extinction of the human species. Despite this, they continued to invest in these activities, expand them, and profit from them. For decades, governments have received warnings from the scientific community, and they even acknowledged this problem with weak laws that pretend to address the issue. But even today they continue to subsidize fossil fuels and emitting industries, facilitating projects that increase emissions. Government leaders and company managers knew they were condemning people to death, devastation, and extinction through climate and social collapse.
Cellulose companies, such as Navigator and Altri, supported and assisted by successive national governments, have turned Portugal into the perfect ground for chaos to ignite. Portugal has the largest relative area of eucalyptus in the world and, in absolute terms, competes with giants like Australia, Brazil, China, and India. These companies profit from the export of paste and paper, fully aware of the impacts of their activities on the territories and populations where they operate. It is relevant to remember that the cellulose business is highly emission-intensive, and Navigator is the company responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions in Portugal. In addition to being aware that they are driving the planet toward chaos, they simultaneously invest in bioenergy, biomass, and green hydrogen businesses, allowing them to enhance their propaganda through new ventures masked as green, even monetizing the burned raw materials, further maximizing their profits. We can be certain that for these companies, the destruction of our lives will not lead to a reduction in profitability—at least until there is nothing left to destroy.
These companies effectively “in the name of private interests are capable of jeopardizing the rights, freedoms, and guarantees, and the very lives” of all living people, and also of those yet to be born. Together with other emitting companies and the governments that support them, they are setting fire to all people and the planet. Montenegro’s promises and words are empty, coinciding with a state budget that adds more fire to society and is also a reiteration of violence against ordinary people. It is in our hands to stop normalizing these attacks and to halt them, united and with strength.
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Study Ties Climate Crisis to Spread of Valley Fever-Causing Fungus in California
"This work is an important example of how infectious diseases are influenced by climate conditions," said the lead author of a new report.
Sep 03, 2024
Scientists at the University of California noticed that cases of Valley fever, a respiratory infection that is spread only through the inhalation of fungal spores, only peaked in certain parts of the state in recent years—and when they set out to discover why, they found that drought may play a major role in rising cases of the disease.
In a study published in The Lancet Regional Health - Americas on Tuesday, the researchers explained that increased droughts in the state have created conditions for a growing number of people to inhale coccidioides spores, which thrive in soil and can be inhaled through dust.
The scientists analyzed cases of Valley fever from 2000-22, and found that cases have risen dramatically since the turn of the century—particularly from 2014-18 and again from 2018-22, two periods when reported cases tripled.
Cases of the seasonal illness have long been known to occur mostly between September and November, but the researchers found "there were certain years during which few or no counties had a seasonal peak in Valley fever cases," said lead author Alexandra Heaney, an assistant professor at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. "This made us wonder what was driving these differences in seasonality between years, and based on the timing we observed, we hypothesized that drought might be playing a role."
"Even though droughts appear to decrease Valley fever cases in the short term, the net effect is an increase in cases over time, particularly as we experience more frequent and severe droughts due to climate change."
During periods of drought, seasonal peaks of Valley fever were less severe, according to the study. It was after the dry periods, when heavy rains returned, that cases spiked.
The researchers suggested that the return of rainy weather could allow the heat-resistant coccidioides fungus to proliferate because of the newly moist soil and the influx of nutrients. Another hypothesis was that droughts cause a decline in the population of rodents that host the fungus.
"Because dead rodents are thought to be an important source of nutrients for the fungus, it may be able to survive and spread more easily in drought conditions," reported UC San Diego Today.
"This work is an important example of how infectious diseases are influenced by climate conditions," Heaney said. "Even though droughts appear to decrease Valley fever cases in the short term, the net effect is an increase in cases over time, particularly as we experience more frequent and severe droughts due to climate change."
The study comes a month after a music festival in the state's Central Valley was linked to 14 cases of Valley fever, which can cause joint pain and fatigue as well as respiratory symptoms and can spread to the bones or brain in rare, potentially fatal cases.
People who work outside, including farmworkers and construction workers, are most at risk for breathing in the fungus.
The scientists called for more thorough monitoring of the fungus, which can be difficult to detect and whose symptoms are often confused for other respiratory illnesses. They also called for people in the state to wear face coverings when coming into contact with soil and dust and to minimize time outdoors, if possible, during dry and dusty periods.
Heaney said the team is next looking at climate dynamics related to Valley fever in Arizona, where about two-thirds of cases occur in the United States.
"Understanding where, when, and in what conditions Valley fever is most prevalent is critical for public health officials, physicians, and the public to take precautions during periods of increased risk," said Heaney.
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