Stop floating, start swimming: Water and climate change – interlinkages and prospects for future action
Format
Executive Summary
Climate change matters to the water cycle – Impacts vary from one region to another, but we often do not know exactly how.
Even small changes in climate can have significant impacts on water availability and extreme events, such as droughts and floods. The water cycle is an essential part of the climate system, and therefore acutely sensitive to climate change and climate variability. Empirical evidence shows that insignificant climate variations can cause significant changes in hydrological flows and water availability. For instance, a global temperature rise of 2°C could increase the number of people suffering from absolute water scarcity by an additional 40%, compared to the effects of population growth alone. Groundwater is particularly affected by droughts, since only precipitation that has not evaporated or drained off reaches deeper layers.