The world's rivers just had one of their driest years in decades, UN report finds
The World Meteorological Organization found that more than a third of global river basins saw below-normal water flows in 2025, part of a decade-long decline in the planet's freshwater reserves.
According to a report published Friday by İklimHaber's newsroom, the World Meteorological Organization has found that 2025 was among the driest years for global river monitoring in the last 35 years, with more than a third of the world's river basins recording below-normal water flows. Global stores of groundwater, lake water, vegetation moisture, ice, and snow have been declining for a decade, with a persistent downward trend since 2014-2016, the report found.
The report also documented a fourth consecutive year of widespread glacier loss across all monitored regions, a trend that threatens the long-term water security of communities that depend on glacial meltwater. Not every region saw drought, however: South Asia's river basins recorded excessive water instead, part of what the WMO describes as an increasingly erratic and unpredictable global water cycle.
"We are depleting our savings account," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said, describing the sustained decline in the planet's terrestrial water storage since 2014-2016. The findings add to mounting evidence that climate change is destabilizing water availability in ways that go well beyond simple shifts toward more or less rainfall.
İklimHaber (Haber Merkezi): https://www.iklimhaber.org/bm-nehirler-kuruyor-su-krizi-derinlesiyor/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
