The planet’s water cycle is veering off balance, a United Nations report finds, as growing extremes of flood and drought disrupt lives and livelihoods.
The world’s water cycle is becoming increasingly erratic, swinging between scarcity and deluge, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of Global Water Resources 2024.
The report warns of intensifying extremes in Asia and Southeast Asia, where droughts, floods, and tropical cyclones disrupted economies, food systems and livelihoods.
Globally, only about one-third of river basins recorded “normal” hydrological conditions last year, while nearly 60 per cent swung to extremes – marking the sixth consecutive year of imbalance. Put simply, two-thirds of the world’s rivers now swing between flood and drought, a sign of an increasingly unpredictable water cycle.
“Water sustains our societies, powers our economies and anchors our ecosystems. And yet the world’s water resources are under growing pressure and – at the same time – more extreme water-related hazards are having an increasing impact on lives and livelihoods,” said WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo.
UN Water estimates that 3.6 billion people already face inadequate access to water at least one month a year, a figure expected to rise to more than 5 billion by 2050. The world is also falling far short of meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation by 2030.
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People across Asia, from India to Indonesia, from China to Japan, want their countries to collaborate on challenges that transcend borders. But they want cooperation that delivers results: food and water security, better health, decent jobs and resilience to climate shocks.
Deepali Khanna, senior vice president and head of Asia, The Rockefeller Foundation
Asia and Southeast Asia: drought and deluge
In 2024, Asia and the Pacific were the world’s most disaster-hit regions from weather, climate, and water-related hazards. Severe drought even disrupted production and supply chains of staple crops such as rice, coffee and sugar. In Thailand and India, dry conditions between 2023 and 2024 triggered shortages that pushed sugar and sweets prices in the United States up by 8.9 per cent.
At the same time, record-breaking rainfall and tropical cyclones brought devastation. Typhoon Yagi – described as the strongest storm to hit Southeast Asia in three decades – killed more than 850 people across Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Thailand, the Philippines and Laos. The storm left damages worth over US$16 billion. In Vietnam, floods and landslides affected 26 provinces, claiming 321 lives, while Myanmar recorded at least 226 deaths.
Glacier loss and rising seas
The WMO report also documented accelerating ice melt. For the third consecutive year, glaciers worldwide suffered widespread mass loss, estimated at 450 gigatonnes – enough water to fill 180 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
This contributed 1.2 millimetres to global sea-level rise, increasing flood risks for Asia’s coastal populations. Record losses were observed in Scandinavia, Svalbard, and North Asia, while tropical glaciers in Colombia lost 5 per cent of their mass in a single year.
Mounting socioeconomic toll
The economic costs of drought are mounting. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently estimated that drought-related losses are rising annually by 3 to 7.5 per cent. Agriculture is the hardest-hit sector, with crop yields in particularly dry years declining by up to 22 per cent. Asia ranks among the regions most exposed to future drought severity and economic disruption, according to the OECD’s Global Drought Outlook.
The risks are not confined to agriculture. The risks go far beyond agriculture. The World Economic Forum warns that heatwaves, floods, and other climate-driven disasters could cause 14.5 million deaths and US$12.5 trillion in economic losses by 2050.
Meanwhile, the World Bank projects that without major investments, climate change could push as many as 132 million people into poverty by 2030. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that closing the annual gap in climate adaptation funding could require up to US$387 billion.
More than 520 million people in six Asia-Pacific countries – Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Kiribati – live in high-risk “red zone” nations where hazard exposure combines with limited access to climate finance, according to researchers at the Columbia Climate School.
Persistent inequalities compound the challenge. In the Asia-Pacific region, an estimated 500 million people lack access to a basic water supply, while 1.14 billion live without sanitation services. According to UNICEF, women and girls shoulder disproportionate burdens from extreme heat, from collecting water to navigating barriers in menstrual hygiene amid water insecurity, which worsen health risks and deepen social inequalities.
Call for cooperation, better data
The WMO stresses that effective water management depends on reliable information. “Reliable, science-based information is more important than ever before because we cannot manage what we do not measure,” said Saulo. “Continued investment and enhanced collaboration in data sharing are vital to close monitoring gaps. Without data, we risk flying blind.”
Public demand for cross-border cooperation is rising. A recent Rockefeller Foundation poll found that 75 per cent of people would support international cooperation if it is proven to effectively solve global problems. Globally, overwhelming majorities believe collaboration is essential to tackle food and water security (93 per cent), global health (91 per cent), poverty and inequality (90 per cent), and climate (86 per cent).
“People across Asia, from India to Indonesia, from China to Japan, want their countries to collaborate on challenges that transcend borders. But they want cooperation that delivers results: food and water security, better health, decent jobs, and resilience to climate shocks,” said Deepali Khanna, the foundation’s senior vice president and head of Asia.
