Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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- Recently, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released the State of Climate Services report 2021. It focuses on Terrestrial Water Storage.
- Earlier, on water day(22nd March), in a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), one in five children worldwide reside in areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability.
Important points:
- TWS is the sum of all water on the land surface and in the subsurface, i.e. surface water, soil moisture, snow and ice and groundwater.
- Water is a key prerequisite for human development. But only 0.5% of water on Earth is usable and available as freshwater.
- Water resources across the world are under tremendous pressure due to human and naturally-induced stressors.
- These include population growth, urbanisation and decreasing availability of freshwater.
- Extreme weather events too have been responsible for the pressure on water resources realised across sectors and regions.
Global Scenario:
- TWS dropped at a rate of 1 cm per year in 20 years (2002-2021).
- The biggest losses have occurred in Antarctica and Greenland. But many highly populated, lower latitude locations have also experienced TWS losses.
Indian Scenario:
- The TWS has been lost at a rate of at least 3 cm per year. In some regions, the loss has been over 4 cm per year too.
- India has recorded the highest loss in terrestrial water storage if the loss of water storage in Antarctica and Greenland is excluded.
- India is the ‘topmost hotspot of TWS loss’. The northern part of India has experienced the maximum loss within the country.
- Water and Climate Coalition is a platform for its members to partner on joint activities and implement solutions that address the gaps of operational water and climate challenges with a focus on data and information.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES, MINT
