00:00Pay attention to the following map that we are going to show you.
00:03It has just been published by the World Meteorological Organization.
00:07What does it show?
00:08The small green patches are river basins that in 2025 had higher peak levels than in 2024.
00:16The orange portions that dominate much of the map show basins where the opposite happened.
00:22Peak levels during the past year were lower than those of 2024.
00:27In other words, what the WMO, the United Nations Weather, Climate and Environment Agency, has just revealed
00:33Water,
00:342025 was one of the driest years for rivers worldwide in recent history.
00:3935 years old.
00:41If we broaden our perspective to what has happened in the last five years, for example, in the basin of
00:46Amazon,
00:47To mention one of the most important ones for us in Colombia,
00:50River flows have been below normal on a recurring basis.
00:54But this has also happened in basins in North America, Central and East Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East.
01:02Or rather, in much of the planet.
01:04One of the main conclusions of the report on the state of water
01:07It shows that the water cycle has become more erratic and unpredictable,
01:12oscillating between scarcity and excess.
01:14An example of this is that in the last seven years the lowest number of rivers with
01:20normal flow rates
01:21since 1991.
01:23Let's talk with facts.
01:25While between 1991 and 2020 the average was 46% of basins with normal conditions,
01:32in the last seven years it ranged between 34% and 38%.
01:36This report, which offers a comprehensive assessment of the water cycle,
01:40which includes river flow, groundwater,
01:43water storage in the soil, high-impact phenomena,
01:48Among other variables, it contains several findings that have scientists worried,
01:53because they reveal trends that will have serious consequences for people
01:57and the economies of the future.
02:00One of the most worrying is what is happening with the storage of terrestrial water,
02:05which is roughly the total amount of water stored in groundwater,
02:09lakes and rivers, soil moisture, vegetation, ice and snow.
02:14Celeste Saulo, the Secretary General of the WMO, describes them as the planet's savings account.
02:21They act as a shock absorber that cushions the bad years
02:24so that a single drought or dry season does not directly translate into a water crisis.
02:30The big problem, as Saul said, is that we are depleting those savings accounts.
02:35The reasons? Global terrestrial water storage has been declining since the mid-2010s.
02:42For the fourth consecutive year, all of Earth's major glacial regions lost ice mass.
02:48and almost two-thirds of the underground water wells they monitored
02:52They presented conditions outside the historical norm in 2025.
02:56The balance tilted even further towards the deficit compared to 2024
03:01instead of towards recovery, as Saul pointed out.
03:04As if that weren't enough, in recent years we are witnessing more water-related disasters.
03:11To avoid going too far afield, the WMO predicts that the strengthening of the El Niño phenomenon
03:15This increases the risk of drought in some areas and flooding in others.
03:20If you would like to know other conclusions from the report just presented by the WMO,
03:24You can read the full article we published in the Environment section of El Espectador.
03:29And if you don't want to miss any more important news like this,
03:32Don't forget to follow us on all our social media channels.
03:51Thanks for watching the video.
Comentarios