Why in News?
- Recently, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released the first ever State of Global Water Resources 2021 report.
Focus Areas
- Report assesses the effects of climate, environmental and societal change on Earth’s water resources.
- The report focuses on three major areas:
- Streamflow — volume of water flowing through a river channel at any given time.
- Terrestrial water storage (TWS) — all water on the land surface and in the sub-surface.
- The cryosphere — frozen water on the earth, in the form of snow, sea ice, icebergs, glaciers etc.
Key Findings
- Large areas of the globe recorded drier-than-normal conditions in 2021.
- 74% of all natural disasters between 2001 and 2018 were water related.
- 3.6 billion People face inadequate access to water at least a month per year.
- It is expected to reach 5 billion by 2050.
- The area with below-average streamflow was about two times larger than the above-average streamflow area.
- The Gangetic and Indus systems feature on the WMO’s ‘hotspot’ list of rapid deterioration.
- Continued melting of glaciers shows a clear trend towards an acceleration of mass loss on multidecadal timescales.
About WMO
- It is a specialized agency of the United Nations, headquartered in Geneva.
- It is an intergovernmental organization and has 193 member states.
- It was established by the ratification of the WMO Convention in 1950.