World faced unprecedented drought last year, WMO warns

The world has never experienced a drought quite like the one it faced last year, according to Stefan Uhlenbrook, the Director of the Hydrology, Water, and Cryosphere Program of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN’s specialized agency for weather, climate, and water, Report informs.

Uhlenbrook made this alarming statement during the event themed "Water for Climate: Integrating Water Solutions into NDCs and NAPs,” held as part of COP29.

Uhlenbrook noted: "The planet has never been this hot before. This heat in the atmosphere is drying up rivers. We have also witnessed record temperatures in the oceans, which, combined with the high atmospheric temperatures, has led to more extreme rainfall. As a result, we have experienced a year characterized by very intense floods."

The director also pointed out that groundwater levels have been below normal. "Climate change is causing glaciers to melt rapidly worldwide. For example, approximately 10% of Switzerland's glaciers have melted in the past two years alone. This is a faster rate of melting than we expected on a global scale," he added.