A new WMO report shows that the foundations of daily life across the Arab region, including the farms, reservoirs and aquifers that feed and support millions of people, are being pushed to the brink by man-made warming.
Six years of drought in the sun-scorched corner of northwest Africa's Maghreb have reduced wheat yields, forcing countries such as Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to import more grain even as world prices rise.
In some parts of Morocco, reservoir levels have dropped to record lows. The government has imposed water restrictions in major cities, including limits on household water use, and has also reduced irrigation for farmers. Water systems in Lebanon have already deteriorated due to alternating floods and droughts, and in Iraq and Syria small farmers are abandoning their lands as rivers dry up and seasonal rains become unreliable.
The WMO report calls 2024 the hottest year ever recorded in the Arab world. Summer heat waves spread and persisted in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt. Some parts of Iraq recorded six to 12 days with maximum temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), conditions that are life-threatening even for healthy adults. The report notes an increase in the number of heat wave days across the region in recent decades, while humidity has decreased. The dangerous combination accelerates soil drying and crop damage.
In contrast, other parts of the region – the United Arab Emirates, Oman and southern Saudi Arabia – were inundated with devastating record rains and floods Over the course of 2024, extremes will test the limits of adaptation, said Rola Dashti, executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, which frequently collaborates with the WMO to analyze climate impacts.
Extreme climate events in 2024 killed at least 300 people in the region. The consequences affect countries already grappling with internal conflicts and where damage is underinsured and unreported. In Sudan alone, flooding damaged more than 40 percent of the country's farmland.
But for the world's 15 driest countries in the region, water scarcity is a major problem. Governments are investing in desalination, wastewater recycling and other measures to improve water security, but the adaptation gap between risk and preparedness is still widening.
The worst is yet to come, Dashti said in a WMO statement, with climate models showing “a potential increase in average temperatures of up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century under high-emissions scenarios.” She said the new report is important because it “gives the region an opportunity to prepare for tomorrow's climate realities.”
This article originally appeared on Domestic climate newsis a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization covering climate, energy and environmental issues. Subscribe to their newsletter Here.
