As global heating shifts the planet’s water cycle out of balance, lives, nature and economies are under threat.
The climate crisis is at a critical juncture, and there is a missing piece in the debate that requires urgent attention: Water.
Often overlooked in climate discussions, it in fact is indispensable to achieving the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Failure to act on water-related issues imperils our ability to make progress on reducing emissions. And adapting to climate impacts is largely about managing water-related extremes.
In a year marked by extreme events from China to India to Libya that show the worrying new trend of “once-in-a-century” or “unprecedented” floods and droughts becoming the norm, it is evident that the water cycle is spinning out of balance.
