Global floods and droughts are becoming more common.

On Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published the “State of Climate Services 2021: Water” report. According to global climate change, water-related risks such as floods and droughts are expected to increase the report.

To be able to deal with different types of natural disasters, a better warning system is required that can, for example, respond before water levels are expected in rivers or the like. Nearly 60 percent of the 101 countries surveyed in the report need to update their systems, something like this AP previously wrote about.

Read more: Poor preparedness of municipalities for heavy rains

According to the report, there is a need for coordination between different countries and improved funding.

“We must wake up to the looming water crisis,” said Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization.

The number of disasters increased

Flood-related disasters have increased in recent years worldwide, more precisely by 134 percent since 2000. The countries hardest hit in terms of deaths and economic losses are China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal and Pakistan.

But it wasn’t long after that Sweden experienced heavy rain in Gavle Resulting in a massive flood in the city. According to meteorologists, this was the worst rainfall in 20 years.

Also affected this summer Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria from major floods More than 200 people lost their lives.

A quarter suffers from a lack of water

In the past two decades, many African countries have experienced droughts that have seen a 29 percent increase. The report also shows that water naturally present in soil, snow and ice has been reduced by one centimeter per year worldwide.

Read more: 100 mm of rain fell in two hours in Gävle

A quarter of all cities participating in the study suffer from regular water shortages and by 2050, more than five billion people are expected to have limited access to water. In 2018, the number was 3.6 billion people, according to the report.