Environment

EcoWatch -  Last year was the driest for rivers globally in 33 years, according to the State of Global Water Resources 2023 report coordinated by the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization.The world’s river flows fell ton. record lows in 2023, as extreme heat endangered crucial water supplies in a time of increasing demand, a WMO press release said. “Water is becoming the most telling indicator of our time of climate‘s distress and yet, as a global society, we are not taking action to protect these reserves,” Celeste Saulo, WMO secretary-general, told reporters at a press briefing in Geneva, as Reuters reported

EcoWatch - According to the latest Ocean State Report  from EU Copernicus, the world’s oceans are experiencing rapid warming, increasing acidification, more marine heat waves and more algal blooms in recent years compared to previous decades. In particular, the report highlighted that ocean warming has nearly doubled since 2005, and it had already been steadily increasing since 1960. The previous long-term rate of warming was at 0.58 watts per square meter. In the past two decades, that rate has reached 1.05 watts per square meter.

According to the report, 75% of northern hemisphere ocean surfaces are warming faster than the global average, while 35% of southern hemisphere ocean surfaces are warming faster than average. This warming leads to multiple disruptions to ecosystems, including increasing coastal erosion and flooding, decreasing sea ice and increasing tropical cyclone intensity.  

Time - According to the 2024 Living Planet Report released ... by World Wildlife Fund, where I serve as chief scientist, globally monitored wildlife populations have plummeted by 73% in just 50 years, driven mostly by habitat destruction, overexploitation, and climate change. This decline has a dangerous ripple effect. Earth’s wild places cannot long survive the loss of its wildlife. And human civilization, despite its undeniable progress and technological wonders, remains bound to the health of the one planet we all call home.  

The path we’re on now leads to catastrophic tipping points—thresholds where harmful changes to nature and the climate become potentially irreversible. The decisions we make in the next five years will determine if we can reverse these trends or watch them spiral out of control.