State of Climate Services Report 2021

State of Climate Services Report 2021

News: Recently, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released the State of Climate Services report 2021. It focuses on Terrestrial Water Storage.Earlier, on water day (22nd March), in a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), one in five children worldwide reside in areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability.

Details:
• TWS is the sum of all water on the land surface and in the subsurface, i.e. surface water, soil moisture, snow and ice and groundwater.Water is a key prerequisite for human development. But only 0.5% of water on Earth is usable and available as freshwater.Water resources across the world are under tremendous pressure due to human and naturally-induced stressors.
• These include population growth, urbanisation and decreasing availability of freshwater.Extreme weather events too have been responsible for the pressure on water resources realised across sectors and regions.
• TWS dropped at a rate of 1 cm per year in 20 years (2002-2021).The biggest losses have occurred in Antarctica and Greenland. But many highly populated, lower latitude locations have also experienced TWS losses.
• In India, The TWS has been lost at a rate of at least 3 cm per year. In some regions, the loss has been over 4 cm per year too.India has recorded the highest loss in terrestrial water storage if the loss of water storage in Antarctica and Greenland is excluded.India is the ‘topmost hotspot of TWS loss’. The northern part of India has experienced the maximum loss within the country.
• In India, per capita water availability is reducing due to an increase in population.The average annual per capita water availability has reduced to 1,545 cubic metres in 2011, from 1,816 cubic metres in 2001.
• It is projected to further decrease to 1,367 cubic metres in 2031, according to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• Five of the 21 river basins in India are ‘absolute water scarce’ (per capita water availability below 500 cubic metres) according to the Falkenmark Water Stress Indicator.Five are ‘water scarce’ (per capita water availability below 1,000 cubic metres) and three are ‘water stressed’ (per capita water availability below 1,700 cubic metres).
• By 2050, six will become absolute water scarce, six will become water scarce and four will become water stressed, according to the State of India’s Environment in figures, 2020.
• The Falkenmark indicator is one of the most widely used indicators for assessing the stress on water. It relates the total freshwater resources with the total population in a country and indicates the pressure that population puts on water resources, including the needs for natural ecosystems.

Way Forward:
• Integrated Resources Water Management as a solution to better manage water stress, especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).In end-to-end drought and flood early warning systems in at-risk LDCs, including for drought warning in Africa and flood warning in Asia.
• Fill the capacity gap in collecting data for basic hydrological variables which underpin climate services and early warning systems.Fill the gaps in data on country capacities for climate services in the water sector, especially for SIDS.
• Improve the interaction among national level stakeholders to co-develop and operationalize climate services with information users to better support adaptation in the water sector.There is also a pressing need for better monitoring and evaluation of socio-economic benefits, which will help to showcase best practices.
• Water and Climate Coalition is a platform for its members to partner on joint activities and implement solutions that address the gaps of operational water and climate challenges with a focus on data and information.