Record the final temperatures year pushed the global water cycle into a “new climate extreme,” according to Global Water Monitor 2024 report. The document, produced by an international consortium led by researchers at the Australian National University, says these climate anomalies have caused devastating floods and droughts that have resulted in more than 8,700 deaths, in displacement of 40 million people, and economic losses of more than $550 billion.

The report was produced by an international team and led by ANU professor Albert van Dijk. It reveals that it is 2024 the hottest year currently for nearly 4 billion people in 111 countries, and that the air temperature above the Earth’s surface is 1.2 degrees Celsius higher than that documented at the beginning of the century and 2.2 degrees Celsius higher than the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

Van Dijk stated that water systems around the world have been affected. “From historic droughts to catastrophic floods, these extreme climate changes affect lives, livelihoods, and entire ecosystems. Water is our most important resource, and its extreme conditions are one of the biggest threats we face,” he said.

The report’s authors analyzed data from thousands of ground and satellite stations that collect near-real-time information on critical water variables, including rainfall intensity and frequency, moisture land, and flooding.

“We found that rainfall records are being broken with increasing regularity. For example, the highest record monthly rainfall total was reached 27 percent more often in 2024 than when it started. century, while daily rainfall records are reached 52 percent more often. Low records are 38 percent more frequent, so we see extremes on both sides, said Van Dijk.

Research says that, as a result, sea surface temperatures have risen, intensifying tropical storms and droughts in the Amazon basin and southern Africa. Global warming favors the formation of slower-moving storms in Europe, Asia, and Brazil, subjecting some regions—such as Valencia in Spain—to extremely high levels of precipitation. Widespread flash floods occurred in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while rising levels of the Yangtze and Pearl rivers in southern China damaged rice crops.

“In Bangladesh, heavy monsoon rains and the release of water from dams affected more than 5.8 million people, and at least 1 million tons of rice was wasted. In the Amazon basin, forest fire caused by hot, dry weather that destroyed more than 52,000 square kilometers in September alone, releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases,” said Van Dijk.

The study added that changes in the water cycle are intensifying food shortages, damaging shipping routes, and disrupting hydropower generation in some regions. “We need to prepare and adapt to the inevitable more extreme extreme events. That may mean adopting stronger flood defenses, developing new food production systems and more drought-resistant water supply networks,” suggested Van Dijk.

World leaders have pledged to implement measures and policies to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by the end of the century, but the World Meteorological Organization points out that current efforts not enough. The WMO estimates that there is an 80 percent chance that the average global temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels again in at least one of the next five years. The projection suggests that humanity is far from reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement and raises new concerns about the progress of climate change.

Securing financial resources is another challenge. The United Nations Environment Program estimates that the funding gap for climate change adaptation is between $194 billion and $366 billion annually.

António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, says that “we are walking a tightrope on the planet. Either leaders close the emissions gap or we suffer climate catastrophe, with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most. The countdown to action has begun.”

This story originally appeared on Wired in Spanish and translated from Spanish.