(Image credit: Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images) published 20 October 2024
For the first time in recorded history the system that moves water around the planet is off balance, according to a landmark new report.
Water moves around the world in "atmospheric rivers" as part of the global water cycle , explained the report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water. Water evaporates from ground level and rises into the atmosphere, spreading across the world as vapour before cooling, condensing and returning to the Earth as rain or snow.
However, decades of destructive land use and water mismanagement have combined with climate change to put "unprecedented stress" on this process, the commission said. Subscribe to The Week
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From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up As this "rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet", more than half the world’s food production will be "at risk of failure" within the next 25 years, said The Guardian . Vicious cycle The study differentiated between "blue water", found in rivers and lakes, and "green water", which is contained in soils and plant life and released into the atmosphere via transpiration. Crucially, green water has been overlooked, said the authors, noting that it accounts for around half of global rainfall.A vicious […]
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