More than two billion people are living in countries under water stress and 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water at least one month per year. Meanwhile, water-related hazards have increased in frequency for the past 20 years. Since 2000, flood-related disasters have increased by 134%, and frequency of droughts increased by 29%. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is vital to achieving long-term social, economic and environmental well-being. But, although most countries have advanced their level of IWRM implementation, 107 countries remain off track to hit the goal of sustainably managing their water resources by 2030 (UN SDG 6).

The latest report on the State of Climate Services, for water, explores the progress made by WMO Members in using climate services to address water-related challenges. The report highlights the gaps in user engagement, forecasting, observing networks, and data collection that still exist. The 90-minute launch program, curated by WMO, will feature interventions by some of the report’s contributing organizations. An audience of hundreds of participants, representing a wide range of stakeholders engaged in implementing or supporting the application of climate services for effective adaptation in the water sector, is expected.

Geneva 5 October 2021 - Water-related hazards like floods and droughts are increasing because of climate change. The number of people suffering water stress is expected to soar, exacerbated by population increase and dwindling availability. But management, monitoring, forecasting and early warnings are fragmented and inadequate, whilst global climate finance efforts are insufficient according to a new multi-agency report.

The State of Climate Services 2021: Water highlights the need for urgent action to improve cooperative water management, embrace integrated water and climate policies and scale up investment in this precious commodity which underpins all the international goals on sustainable development, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

“Increasing temperatures are resulting in global and regional precipitation changes, leading to shifts in rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons, with a major impact on food security and human health and well-being,” says World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas.

“This past year has seen a continuation of extreme, water-related events. Across Asia, extreme rainfall caused massive flooding in Japan, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and India. Millions of people were displaced, and hundreds were killed. But it is not just in the developing world that flooding has led to major disruption. Catastrophic flooding in Europe led to hundreds of deaths and widespread damage,” he said.

“Lack of water continues to be a major cause of concern for many nations, especially in Africa. More than two billion people live in water-stressed countries and suffer lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation,” he told the official high-level launch event.

“We need to wake up to the looming water crisis,” said Prof. Taalas.

Since 2000, flood-related disasters have increased by 134%, compared with the two previous decades.

The number and duration of droughts also increased by 29%.
Most drought-related deaths occurred in Africa, indicating a need to continue strengthening end-to-end warning systems for drought.

The good news is that nations are determined to improve the situation. According to UNFCCC, water is an adaptation priority in 79% of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement.

Worldwide, 44% of disasters and 31% of economic losses have been associated with floods, with the majority of all flood-related losses occurring in Asia (Figure 3).

Drought, on the other hand, claimed lives of around 700,721 people (34% of disaster related deaths from 1970 to 2019), with the majority of deaths recorded in Africa.
Globally, drought also contributed to a loss of $US 262 billion, with the largest economic losses occurring in Asia, North America and the Caribbean.
As compared to 1980-1999, since 2000 drought-related disasters have increased in frequency by 29%38. In 2000-2019, drought affected 1.43 billion people. ( see Figure 4 on page 10)
End-to-end drought forecasting and warning systems are absent or inadequate in 54% of WMO Members that provided data – with only 27% of Members with existing systems are reaching more than two-thirds of their at-risk population (Figure 11) on page 16

AFRICA - Droughts are the top killer in Africa among weather-, water- and climate related hazards, claiming more than 695 000 lives in the past 50 years

Droughts accounted for 16% of weather-, water-, and climate- related disasters, 95% of deaths, and 26% of economic losses (Figure 12), and floods 60%, 4%, and 34%, respectively, during this period.
Although flood-related disasters were most prevalent, drought has led to the highest number of deaths, accounting for 95% of all lives lost to weather-, water- and climate-related disasters in the region.
In 2020, flood events affected seven million people and flood exposure and vulnerability killed 1,273 people in Africa, the highest figure since 2006.
In 2020, drought affected a total of 13.4 million people in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.60 According to FAO, Northern Africa is one of the sub-regions with the highest water stress (109%) level globally.6. ( see page 19 Africa )

Europe - Floods and drought accounted for 41% of weather-, water-, and climate-related disasters and 54% of disaster-related economic losses in the region for the past 50 years.
Floods (36%) and storms (44%) accounted for greatest economic losses in Europe (Figure 27).

Among the case studies presented from page 29 to 39 a focus on GGW
Climate information for improved water resources management in the Sahel.( case study)
Drought and desertification are a real problem for communities across the Sahel and Sahara
The Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) has been conceived as a model to help in the fight against drought and desertification, ensure ecosystem restoration and the development of arid and semi-arid zones in the Sahel.
Since the launch of the GGWI in 2007, key results include:

Ethiopia: 15 million hectares of degraded land restored; land tenure security improved;
Senegal: 25 000 hectares of degraded land restored; 11.4 million trees planted;
Nigeria: 5 million hectares of degraded land restored, and 20 000 jobs created;
Burkina Faso: 3 million hectares of land have been rehabilitated through local practices by community; and
Niger: 5 million hectares of land restored, delivering 500,000 tons of grain per year enough to feed 2.5 million people. Read more from page 29


The report was coordinated by WMO and contains input from more than 20 international organizations, development agencies and scientific institutions. It is accompanied by a Story Map.

According to figures cited in the report, 3.6 billion people had inadequate access to water at least one month per year in 2018. By 2050, this is expected to rise to more than five billion.

In the past 20 years, terrestrial water storage – the summation of all water on the land surface and in the subsurface, including soil moisture, snow and ice – has dropped at a rate of 1cm per year. The biggest losses are occurring in Antarctica and Greenland, but many highly populated lower latitude locations are experiencing significant water losses in areas that are traditionally providing water supply, with major ramifications for water security.

The situation is worsening by the fact that only 0.5% of water on Earth is useable and available freshwater.

Water-related hazards have increased in frequency over the past 20 years. Since 2000, flood-related disasters have risen by 134% compared with the two previous decades. Most of the flood-related deaths and economic losses were recorded in Asia, where end-to-end warning systems for riverine floods require strengthening.

The number and duration of droughts also increased by 29% over this same period. Most drought-related deaths occurred in Africa, indicating a need for stronger end-to-end warning systems for drought in that region.