Last year, the world’s rivers had their driest year in at least three decades, according to a new U.N. report, which says that heat and drought are sapping vital waterways.
Warming is fueling both heavier rainfall and more intense drought. As the the planet heats up, “we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water,” said Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the U.N. World Meteorological Organization, which authored the new report.
The hottest year on record, 2023 saw intense droughts around the globe. The Mississippi River and Amazon River basins were at record low levels, while the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Mekong rivers, which all have their headwaters in the Himalayas, were also unusually low. Across nearly half the globe, rivers ran drier than normal.
Last year also saw extreme heat shrink glaciers that supply essential meltwater. Glaciers worldwide lost more ice last year than they have in at least five decades, with glaciers in Europe and North America hit particularly hard.
“Melting ice and glaciers threaten long-term water security for many millions of people,” Saulo said. “And yet we are not taking the necessary urgent action.”
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