The world is facing an escalating water crisis as climate change drives more destructive floods, storms, and droughts, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned in a new report released on Thursday. With 2024 confirmed as the hottest year in 175 years of observation, global water systems are under mounting pressure, and experts say the trend shows no signs of slowing.
“Water-related hazards continue to cause major devastation this year,” said Celeste Saulo, WMO Secretary-General, citing the deadly monsoon floods in Pakistan, catastrophic flooding in South Sudan, and recent flash floods on the Indonesian island of Bali. “Unfortunately, we see no end to this trend,” she added. Warmer air temperatures mean the atmosphere can hold more moisture, fueling heavier and more destructive rainfall.
The WMO report paints a stark picture of the planet’s changing water cycle. In September 2024, Storm Boris unleashed devastating flash floods across central and eastern Europe, uprooting tens of thousands and causing river levels that should statistically occur only once every century. “A ‘century event’ happened,” said Stefan Uhlenbrook, WMO’s Director of Hydrology, “but statistics show these extreme events might become even more frequent.”
Asia has also witnessed alarming shifts. Parts of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir were hit by intense rainfall long before the monsoon season was expected, a sign of growing unpredictability in weather patterns. Meanwhile, the strong El Niño phenomenon at the start of 2024 triggered severe drought in the Amazon basin, below-average rainfall in northwest Mexico and North America, and dry conditions in southern Africa. “Scientific evidence shows that our changing climate and rising temperatures lead to more extreme events—both droughts and floods,” Saulo stressed.
The report warns that what happens to water systems in one region inevitably affects others. Melting glaciers remain a particularly urgent concern. In 2024 alone, glaciers worldwide lost an estimated 450 gigatonnes of ice, enough to raise global sea levels by 1.2 millimetres and threaten hundreds of millions of people living in coastal areas. This marks the third consecutive year of widespread glacial loss, accelerating the risk of devastating floods downstream.
Beyond the dramatic impacts, the WMO highlights a critical gap in global water monitoring. Data on streamflow, groundwater, soil moisture, and water quality remain inadequate, limiting the world’s ability to predict and respond to crises.
The message from scientists is clear: the planet’s water cycle is becoming more violent, unpredictable, and interconnected. Without urgent action to curb greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen early warning systems, floods, storms, and droughts will only grow more frequent and destructive, reshaping life for billions of people around the globe.
