The flood in Emilia Romagna last September. The dramatic one that hit Valencia and south-eastern Spain a few weeks later. But also similar, and even more catastrophic, events that affected Afghanistan, Pakistan and China. And the record-breaking droughts experienced in many other areas of the world such as the one that led to the severe fires that devastated Los Angeles. The 2024 bulletin certifies that it was a year of extremes in the weather field, and it does not seem like a coincidence: according to the new Global Water Monitor 2024 report, drawn up by an international consortium of scientists led by the Australian National University, those we see they are the direct effects of global warming, which is causing increasingly marked imbalances in the water cycle of our pine forest.
The hottest year
“In 2024 the earth experienced its warmest year since measurements began, and for the fourth year in a row,” explains hydrologist Albert van Dijk, a researcher at the Australian National University who coordinated the drafting of the report. “The world’s water systems are the first to feel the effects, and in fact 2024 was a year of non-isolated extreme phenomena. It’s all part of a negative trend that sees increasingly intense floods, prolonged waves of drought, and record-breaking extreme weather events.”
In fact, last year approximately four billion people in 111 different nations experienced the highest temperatures ever recorded. Averages on land exceeded those of the beginning of the last century by 1.2 degrees, and those of the pre-industrial period by 2.2 degrees. And ocean surface temperatures have also set new annual records almost everywhere.
“Rising sea surface temperatures have intensified tropical cyclones and droughts in the Amazon basin and southern Africa – continues van Dijk – Global warming has also contributed to producing more intense rainfall and stationary storms, as demonstrated by the flash floods that they hit Europe, Asia and Brazil.”
The water cycle gone crazy
According to the data collected in the report, floods, floods, tropical storms, landslides and droughts in 2024 killed over 8,700 people worldwide, causing the displacement of over 40 million people, and economic damage exceeding 550 billion dollars. And in many cases, these are events made more intense, or more frequent, by climate change.
“Our findings reveal that rainfall records are being broken with increasing regularity,” van Dijk points out. “For example, record-breaking monthly rainfall occurred 27 percent more frequently in 2024 than it did at the turn of the century, and daily records 57 percent more often. Even negative rainfall records are 38 percent more frequent, meaning we see increasingly worse extremes at both ends of the spectrum.”
For van Dijk and colleagues, the data is clear: climate change is profoundly altering the water cycle on our planet. And this makes it more than ever a priority to focus on adaptation policies that help mitigate the effects of these changes over the coming decades.
“We must prepare and adapt to the inevitability of increasingly serious extreme events,” concludes the Australian expert. “This may mean deploying more effective flood prevention tools, developing more drought-resistant food supply chains and water supplies, and improving early warning systems. Water is our most critical resource, and its extremes – floods and droughts – are among the greatest dangers we will face in the future.”