Ethiopia’s Minister of Water and Energy, Abraha Adugna, has emphasized the need to “de-politicise” water issues. He also urged the formation of “genuine partnerships” to address common water challenges.

The remarks were made at Second High Level Conference on the Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028” 6-8 June 2021. The conference was convened by the United Nations in cooperation with the governments of Tajikistan and the Netherlands as a preparatory conference for a major UN water conference which will take place in New York in March 2023.

The minister reiterated Ethiopia’s commitment to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) which sets out to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. These objectives had been integrated into Ethiopia’s 10-year National Development Plan and partnerships with local and external development actors are already in place.

Adugna also indicated that the impacts of climate change and the disruption caused by COVID-19 have threatened the progress of the plan. Intervention is still required to address the needs of an estimated 50 million citizens who have no access to safe drinking water and the 80% of the population without adequate sanitation services.

The minister cited environmentally friendly and efficient hydraulic infrastructure development as crucial to the success of SDG6. He mentioned the Green Legacy Initiative and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project as important pieces of the government’s agenda that will restore wetland ecosystems and foster regional partnerships.

The Dushanbe conference has produced a final declaration that will consolidate the critical views of the stakeholders on key actions and partnerships necessary to take the water sector agenda forward globally. It will provide valuable inputs for the preparation of March 2023 water conference in New York

In the run up to COP 27 which will take place in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, from 6-18 November, consultations are already underway that will shape the agenda for the event.

Although many topics are on the table for discussion, related to both climate mitigation and adaptation, two initiatives in particular have the full attention of the host government, i.e. a water initiative, known as Action for Water Adaptation and Resilience (AWARE), and the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST) initiative. Both initiatives will probably obtain the status of presidential initiative and are therefore likely to take a prominent position within the COP 27 agenda.

The AWARE initiative seeks to catalyse action around water as a key to climate adaptation and resilience. The integration of water and climate action is at the centre of the AWARE initiative, and within this field, increased capacity for flood and drought forecasting is likely to be a key action point.

During COP 26 in Glasgow, major efforts were already underway to emphasise the interlinkages between water and climate through, amongst others, a water pavilion which hosted water related events throughout. 

In the area of water, the COP 27 programme will feature three things: a water pavilion, a dedicated water day within the programme, and the AWARE initiative.

Already at COP 23 in Marrakech, a climate action pathway for water had been identified, opening space for dialogue on water-climate interactions.  Water has an important role to play in the Adaptation Action Coalition co-developed by the UK and Egyptian governments. However, many of the key modalities for action such as sustainable finance and capacity building still need to be fleshed out.

Through consultation with various parties, the Egyptian government is currently trying to create an umbrella structure that brings together and interlinks the various initiatives. The concept is currently still open for comments, but the final draft document is expected to be launched in July.

Although the climate – water interlinkages are broadly recognised, it is not yet evident that reference will be made to these interactions in the final COP 27 declaration. There is consensus that water is not only the central impact vehicle for climate related natural disasters such as droughts and floods, but also a potential contributor to resilience through, amongst others, the strengthening of early warning systems.

There are many initiatives for the COP that have gained significant momentum, but it is not yet clear which of these may yet merge to form more consolidated initiatives, and which may fall to the wayside as discussions continue.

Nevertheless, as mentioned, the water and food initiatives currently appear to have a strong likelihood of becoming flagship initiatives supported by the Egyptian presidency.

Both the World Water Week in Stockholm and the Cairo Water Week provide the opportunity for various water related initiatives to be consolidated.

End of July / early August there will be announcements of the various key initiatives which will be further detailed during the Cairo Water Week.                    

At the opening of the United Nations Oceans Conference in Lisbon on the 27th of June, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the world is facing an ‘ocean emergency’.

Oceans, he stated, provide, energy, food, water, jobs and economic benefits for every country in the world, including landlocked countries. This relationship with the oceans is under threat through pollution, overfishing, and the effects of climate change. Guterres referred to a 2016 report by the MacArthur Foundation that, unless strong measures are taken on plastic waste, plastics will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050. The conference, hosted by the governments of Portugal and Kenya, was organised in support of Sustainable Development Goal 14 on the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources.

Speaking at an interactive dialogue on marine pollution, David Parker, Minister for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries of New Zealand, marine pollution has local, national, regional and global dimensions which need to be tackled together to address these issues.

Pollution, he said, does not respect territorial boundaries, and we all owe a duty of care to the effects on international waters. Strong domestic policies on SDG 14 action needed on regulatory mechanisms to reduce pollution can begin locally. For instance, New Zealand has started a phase out of the use of single use plastic products. However, cooperation is needed at the global level such as through the current discussions on a treaty to end plastic pollution , for which a deadline has been set for the end of 2024.

While plastics pollution has become emblematic of marine pollution, panellists reminded the participants that river basins and coastal pollution are also very important but less well-known sources of marine pollution.

In a preparatory concept paper developed for the interactive dialogue, rivers are mentioned as a major pathway through which land-based nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen enter coastal waters. Together with the effects of climate change, the result has been the emergence of more than 500 ‘dead zones’: areas where there is too little oxygen to support marine organisms.

The United Nations has proclaimed a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development to support efforts to reverse the decline in ocean health and bring together stakeholders around a common framework and dedicated actions on science for the sustainable management of ocean resources.            

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) has published on its website a statement accusing Turkey of “implementing special means of war” by diminishing the flow of the Euphrates River to 200 cubic meters per second, well below the agreed 500 cubic meters per second.

The AANES, the de facto political power in the Kurdish region, accused Turkey of violating the tripartite agreement between Turkey, Syria and Iraq which determines minimum levels of water flow at the borders. It has called the reduction a means of attack on the Kurdish people.

The reduction of water flow has caused the Tishrin hydroelectric dam to halt operations and water is now being used to cover essential consumption needs only.

Hind Al-Ali, co-chair of the Executive Council of the Democratic Civil Administration of Tabqa, said: “The Turkish state is putting pressure on the region economically, as the lack of water affects the agricultural sector, especially that the majority of the Autonomous Administration's residents work in agriculture and most of the north and east of Syria are agricultural areas." 

Recently, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan, announced plans to initiate a military offensive on the country’s southern border to create a 30 km “safe zone”. The US has raised concern over these plans from NATO-member Turkey.

Kurdish authorities warn of an impending humanitarian catastrophe if the terms of the international agreement between the three countries are not upheld.

Amid heavy rains in North Korea, the country appears to have released water from Hwanggang dam near the border with South Korea.

On the 30th of June, a South Korean official from the unification ministry expressed regret that their northern neighbours had not issued prior warning of water releases from the dam.  The official stated that “it is presumed that North Korea has recently opened the floodgates of the Hwangang dam”. Nevertheless, the official stated, the waters of the Imjin River are currently stable and have not exceeded a depth of 3 metres.

On the 28th of June North Korean media had reported that intensive work was underway to protect crops, power stations, factory equipment and other assets from damage following heavy rains.

The government reported that efforts were concentrated in North Korea’s central and southern regions to cope with possible typhoon and flood damage. 

South Korea had requested North Korea to inform it in advance if it planned to release water in the border region. However, according to South Korean officials, North Korea had not acknowledged receipt of this request. The request had been submitted via a regular phone call via the inter-Korean joint liaison office.

An agreement was signed between the two countries in 2009 that North Korea would inform South Korea prior to any releases of water in the vicinity of the border between the two countries. This agreement was reached after an unannounced release of water from Hwanggang dam killed 6 South Koreans.    

Egyptian Water Minister, Mohamed Abdel Aty, has announced that the country is very interested in cooperating with other Nile Basin countries in addressing water management issues.

The statement was made when addressing a group of trainees at the conclusion of their programmes in “Environmental Hydrology in Arid and Semi-arid Areas” and “Integrated Water Resources Management”.

Organised by the National Water Research Center in Cairo, the training programmes leverage Egypt's various technical and institutional expertise in the field of water. The programs underscore the country's focus on water as a key element in implementing its foreign policy regime. 

The training courses were designed to develop the technical capabilities of African researchers and specialists and to transfer the experiences gained during the program for application in their respective countries.

Wider cooperation in the Nile Basin also would contribute to successful sustainable development and raise the general standard of living. Any cooperation agreement would also address widespread challenges such as population expansion, spread of poverty, illiteracy and disease.

In the local press Abdel Atty is quoted as having said: “The training represents an opportunity for communication between the people of the African continent and for achieving integration between water engineers in African countries.”

Ethiopia and downstream states, Egypt and Sudan, continue to show no progress in their negotiations with respect to filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which has been at the core of regional disputes since 2011.

Cairo is demanding that Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan reach a legally-binding agreement to fill and operate the dam. The third filling is scheduled to take place in August and September this year.

In mid-September 2021, the UN Security Council called on the three countries to resume African Union-led negotiations, stressing the need to reach a “binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam within a reasonable timetable.

Israel has signed a formal agreement with Jordan to supply 50 million cubic meters of water per year, which doubles the amount already provided.

The transfer is viewed by some as reflecting an improvement in cross-border relations. Gidon Bromberg, Israel director of the regional environmental NGO, EcoPeace Middle East is reported as saying: “[This] reflects the growing understanding that the climate crisis already heavily impacting the region must lead to increased cooperation.”

The deal is consistent with the Israel’s new prime minister’s prioritization to strengthen ties with Jordan. Israel’s minister of infrastructure, energy and water resources, Karine Elharrar, commented: “we want good neighborly relations.”

Deployment of desalination technology in Israel has created additional capacity. The water will be sourced in the Sea of Galillee.

Jordan is an extremely dry country but the newly-sourced water is not welcomed by all. In November 2021 protesters rejected a water-for-energy agreement between Israel and Jordan on that grounds that this would lead to “normalization” of relations with Israel while it continues to occupy Palestine.

At the same time, the government of Jordan has indicated that any illegal wells near water networks could be expropriated whereas wells in remote areas would not be seized. Jordan’s minister of water and irrigation, Mohammed Al-Najjar also noted that water in the remote wells often does not conform to official minimum quality standards.

On the 8th of June, the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales (NSW) admitted scientific findings on climate change to a legal review of a water sharing plan for the first time.

The case was submitted to the NSW Land and Environment Court by the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) on behalf of the Nature Conservation Council on October 6th, 2022, as part of a review the presentation of climate evidence in a legal challenge to the validity of the Border Rivers Water Sharing Plan.  EDO lawyers had argued that when the plan was drawn up, the government of NSW had failed to consider future climate change.

In her judgement, Justice Pain agreed that expert evidence is required to understand the complexities of climate science, hydrology and freshwater ecology. The decision was welcomed by EDO’s lawyer Andres Kwan, who stated that this was a significant ruling, given that the admission of expert evidence of this kind is uncommon. However, he said, EDO had recently had a number of successes in ensuring that climate evidence is heard before the courts, creating an important legal precedent.

The respondents were the Minister for Water Property and Housing and the Minister for Energy and Environment. The respondents had argued that evidence and documents that were not part of the record of the original decision maker should not be admissible in subsequent judicial proceedings. Additionally, the respondents argued that in earlier decisions, Justice Pain had stated that expert evidence has to be reasonably required to resolve the issue in the proceedings, and that the experience of the court generally was that expert evidence was of little assistance.

Nevertheless, Justice Pain ruled that the climate evidence could be submitted. However, while the court is allowing the expert evidence to be heard, the admissibility of the evidence remains a matter for the trial judge.

Vice President Kamala Harris has announced a new White House Action Plan on Global Water Security. For the first time, the plan directly links access to water and sanitation around the world to US national security and global stability.

The plan recognizes that water security is a core element in prevention of conflict and promotion of inter-state stability. It will harness the government’s resources and will leverage science and technology to inform diplomacy, defense, and development efforts.

The White House Action Plan on Global Security defines water security very broadly. It emphasizes that “water security” implies sustainable access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene services, as well as water to sustain ecosystems and for agriculture, energy, and other economic activities. Further, the White House has acknowledged that progress towards achieving water, sanitation, and hygiene goals has been slow and attributes this in part to poor management of water systems.

 The Action Plan will elevate water security as an essential element of the United States’ international efforts to achieve it national security.

The plan is organized around three pillars:

1. Recognizing the immense progress needed to achieve global WASH goals, the plan emphasizes the importance of affordable and sustainable WASH services, locally led solutions, and addressing the inequity that results from water insecurity—particularly for women and girls.
2. Promoting sustainable management and protection of water resources and associated ecosystems to support economic growth, build resilience, mitigate the risk of instability or conflict, and increase cooperation.
3. Ensuring that multilateral action mobilizes cooperation and promotes water security. Efforts to promote water cooperation through regional and multilateral fora are essential to facilitating greater collaboration among countries that share water resources.

The Plan emphasizes the need to reinforce and, possibly, redirect existing policies and actions to advance progress towards global water security goals. It encourages the use of data in decision-making and cooperation across government agencies. In addition, there is a new focus on collaboration with nongovernmental organizations, local communities, and the private sector in order to maximize the impact of new investments.

Lake Sawa, once known as “Pearl of the South”, in Iraq, has completely dried up for the first time. Located about 300 kilometers from Baghdad, the once-thriving salt lake near the city of Samawah is now the site of abandoned hotels and chunks of salt.

High evaporation rates have created salt deposits around “feeder” springs. This has blocked water from reaching the lake.

The situation has been exacerbated by construction activity along the shoreline. An estimated 1,000 wells have been dug around the lake, draining pockets of groundwater. Cement and salt factories have further increased the strain on water resources in the area.

Hamid al-Nayef, a spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture, commented: ““The land investors near the lake have illegally and randomly dug more than 1,000 wells, which caused a shortage in the lake’s water.”

What was, in the 1990’s, a tourist hotspot and home of a biodiverse ecosystem has now become desertified.

Aoun Diab, from the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, said: “Indications of a decrease in the lake water started gradually years ago as a result of agricultural investments in the Samawah desert, where the lake is located.” However, this result seems to be a consequence of multiple factors, he says: ““The drying of the lake is also a natural result of the drought that has affected the Western desert and the Samawah desert, which have not seen rain for years.”

A new study has identified a water imbalance in the Himalayas. The Hindu Kush–Karakoram–Himalayan system, or the “Third Pole” is a reservoir of fresh water that serves nearly 2 billion people downstream.

The Tibetan Plateau in the Himalayas, often dubbed the Asian Water Tower, stores the largest amount of frozen water on the planet after the North and South poles. An international team of scientists has now identified imbalances caused by an increase in temperatures over the last 4 decades.

Since 1980, the region has been warming at a rate of 0.42C per decade, a rate which is twice the global average. Despite an increase in annual precipitation, since 2000, the glacier mass has decreased by 340 Gt (gigatons).

The faster rate of melting ice has caused levels in water basins to change. In basins with no output connections water levels have increased. On the contrary, in basins that are connected to rivers that supply downstream populations, water levels have decreased.

Professor Tandong Yao, the lead researcher of the study whose findings were published in ”Nature Reviews - Earth & Environment”, said: “Such imbalance is expected to pose a great challenge to the supply-demand balancing of water resources in downstream regions.”

While global warming is expected to exacerbate these imbalances, the researchers suggest that some water bodies like the Yellow and the Yangtze Rivers will see their levels rise as others such as the Indus and Amu Darya River basins will see hem decrease.

More accurate predictions of these impacts, however, depend on further, more detailed studies with improved water level monitoring tools.

Salt water from the Adriatic Sea is making its way upstream through the bed of a parched Po River putting crops at risk.

Following a dry winter, the Po River, Italy’s longest, has dried up and, with no downstream flow, sea waters are making their way upstream.

Due to the water’s salinity, crops are being contaminated and there are fears that, unless there is substantial rain quickly, some might be completely lost.

As much as four kilometres upstream, sea water waves are crashing against anti-salt barriers and making their way through irrigation channels burning the crops.

Giancarlo Mantovani, campaigner and director of the “Reclaiming the Po” group, said: “"If there is no rain in the next 10 or 15 days, the crops that are not yet lost will be gone. At this stage, we are progressively losing the harvest.”

The drought is impacting the Northern region of Italy, an area responsible for one third of the country’s agricultural production.

Massimiliano Fazzini, head of the Climate Risk Department of the Italian Society of Environmental Geology said this year saw a 2.5m snowfall as opposed to the usual 7.5m. As the Po River is mostly fed by the Alps’ melting snow, this is at the heart of this year’s crisis.

The dry winter and a particularly hot early summer has made Italian authorities implement water rationing measures. In Milan, water fountains have been shutdown and the washing of vehicles as well as the watering of private lawns and gardens have been prohibited.

South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is facing water service shedding as its supply dams dropped to critically low levels this month.

Municipal statistics on Monday 13th June showed that the second largest dam supplying the district – the Impofu Dam - had effectively run out of water, while the Churchill dam had just 11 days of water left and the Loerie dam had 37 days left. Only the Groendal dam, which was at 22% capacity, had a relatively safe 168 days of supply left. 

One week later, the municipality decided to reduce the withdrawals from the Churchill dam from 60 megalitres per day to 25 megalitres per day in an attempt to stretch its water reserves.

Heavy rains fell on the 24th of June, with 55mm falling in the catchment area for the Impofu and Churchill dams, promising some relief for supplies from these dams. Nevertheless, an emergency water plan was activated for the municipality to avoid overextraction of the Churchill dam. This plan affects more than 200 residential and industrial areas, with a targeted reduction in consumption by 50 million litres per day for the municipality as a whole.

Nelson Mandela Bay has faced seven years of drought, with annual rainfall well below the long-term average. Iinfrastructure development and maintenance has faced problems in the past, as a major project to connect local supplies to the Gariep dam have faced various delays, and the municipality faced a large backlog on responses to reported leaks. The Municipality started an all-out drive to repair leaks in the second half of June and had repaired a total of 1,400 at the time of writing.               

A new 25-country study has demonstrated a strong link between water and food insecurity, suggesting water may be key to addressing hunger.

The data for the study was collected by Northwestern University and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) via the Gallup World Poll in 2020. The researchers analysed data from a sample of 31,000 individuals across 25 low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The study found that individuals experiencing water insecurity were up to 3 times more likely to experience food insecurity. The study also found that of those who experienced water insecurity at the time of the poll, 68.9% were also experiencing food insecurity.

The strong link between water and food insecurity suggests that improved access to water should be a key element of strategies to ensure food security.  “Water insecurity is a major global health issue and its impact on biological and social well-being is only likely to grow with climate change, said Hilary Bethancourt, a member of the research team at Northwestern University. “These data suggest that we have just seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of understanding the role that water insecurity plays in food, nutrition, and well-being in general”.

Based on the findings, the researchers suggest that water and food insecurity should be addressed in tandem. Adopting an integrated approach would ensure that water insecurity does not pose and additional barrier to food insecurity.

Bethancourt presented the findings at Nutrition 2022, an annual event of the American Society for Nutrition which took place between 14-18 June. 

The Netherlands Embassy in Mexico and The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) have announced a “water mission” to Mexico, 5 to 9 September 2022.

The focus of the mission is to explore opportunities for Dutch companies to offer specialised technology and solutions for both urban challenges and agri-business issues in the Mexican markets. Of particular interest are the so-called “hotspots” of Sinaloa and Guanajuato agri-markets.

A 2021 market study revealed that water issues prevail in the production of most agricultural products and food producing regions in Mexico. Major agricultural production regions rely on basins and aquifers that are affected by water deficits, pollution and salinity. Soil degradation is a common issue.

Significant sector growth is forecasted in the upcoming years in terms of production and value, but estimates also predict an increase greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and water scarcity.

The study also indicated that many Mexican producers rely on chemical inputs and obsolete irrigation systems and, at the same time lack access to adequate wastewater treatment and more modern techniques for water re-use and catchment. Producers are aware of these factors and are receptive to adoption of new technologies.

The delegation, to be led by Dutch Water Envoy Henk Ovink, will open opportunities for companies from the Netherlands that specialize in water consultancy, research, water management, on-farm water technologies, irrigation, water treatment and remediation, crop-specific or livestock farming-related water issues, soil restoration and regeneration.

The agri-track will consist of an interesting programme in Mexico-City, Sinaloa and Guanajuato, which and will offer Dutch participants:

• An insight into the most important water issues and stakeholders in the Mexican agricultural sector, in particular in Sinaloa and Guanajuato
• On-site visits to Mexican farms and agri-food businesses
• The possibility to pitch their offer to relevant Mexican parties
• Network events to meet potential leads

Construction activity on three major water projects has commenced as part of the Chinese government's plan to invest an estimated US$120 Billion USD in water infrastructure in this calendar year. This efforts follows the 18 projects that have already been started.

China has accelerated the implementation of water conservancy projects which have been mostly aimed at improving water access in rural areas.

One three-year project tackles floodgate reconstruction in the Yellow River. It will impact 37 floodgates from East China's Shandong Province to Central China's Henan Province and affect 11 cities. The project will ensure stable water supply in areas of the country with large-scale grain production.

The largest of the three projects, worth US$750 Million USD, will impact the Hunan water reservoir and is expected to be able to guarantee a flow of 285.000 tonnes of clean water a day into the Southeastern city of Jishou. Hunan is the second largest consumer of water in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) due to its agricultural activity.

The third project is aimed to improve river management in Anhui province providing water security to 1.5 million people and nearly 200.000 hectares of farmland.

Up until May this year, US$ 4.37 Billion USD had been already invested by the Chinese government to improve water access in rural areas and impacting 9.32 million people.

Intense monsoon rains have affected north-eastern India and Bangladesh, affecting some 1.8 million people in India and 4 million people in Bangladesh.

The monsoon rains arrived early this year and have been described by Bangladeshi officials as the worst since 2004. Atil Haque, the Director General of Bangladesh’s Department of Disaster Management, told Reuters that the flooding in Sylhet was the worst seen in 122 years.

The rains started at the end of May and, together with water flowing from upstream in India, inundated 94% of Sunamganj and 84% of Sylhet districts in Bangladesh. The districts of Moulivazar, Habiganjk and Netrakona are also heavily affected. As of the 21st of June, ReliefWeb reported 358 fatalities and 380,000 evacuations to safety centres in India and 459,000 evacuations in Bangladesh.

Existing water points are at high risk of contamination by microorganisms, sewage, and pollution from household, agricultural and industrial sources. It is estimated that more than 44,000 water points and 49,000 sanitation facilities have been damaged by the floods.

Relief efforts are underway. UNICEF reported on the 19th of June that it had distributed 400,000 water purification tablets as well as 10,000 jerry cans of water and 1,800 dignity kits. Islamic relief teams are using boats to rescue stranded people in Sylhet and Sunamganj and has rescued 500 families so far, distributing food packages in the process. 

The non-governmental organisation BRAC has been working alongside local government since the beginning of the floods, allocating a part of its budget for the distribution of dry food, safe drinking water, oral saline, matches, candles and essential medicines.      

The industrial city of Monterrey in north-eastern Mexico has experienced weeks of water rationing amid a severe drought which has covered more than 80% of the country since March.

As of the 21st of June, Monterrey’s three supply dams were at 45%, 8% and 2% of their supply capacity. At the time of writing, the Cerro Prieto and La Boca dams were within days of being emptied and the remaining supply dam, El Cuchillo, remained at 45% capacity.

During the month of June, the city began limiting water access to six hours a day, although in some neighbourhoods, water has stopped flowing altogether.

Monterrey is not the only area suffering from drought: the muinicipalities of Parás, Sabinas, Hidalgo, Vallecillo, Villaldama and Anáhuac have experienced extreme drought this year.  Cadereyta, Escobedo, Pesquería, Santiago and San Nicolás de los Garza have experienced severe drought.

In the area, some 65% of water consumption is for agricultural use, 25% for urban consumption, 3% for industry, and 6% for a variety of other uses. The spring chili pepper harvest has failed.

In a publication in Nature Climate Change in March, three researchers noted a rapid intensification of a ‘megadrought’ in southwestern North America which has affected northern Mexico as well. The period from 2000-2021 was the driest 22-year period since at least the year 800.

In a separate publication, researchers warn that climate change is increasing the risk of water shortages and that new water management strategies will be required, including water demand management, improved conjunctive use of surface and groundwater, and improved climate forecasting.