资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

January’s deadly storms across Western Europe and South-Eastern Africa offer a stark reminder of the reality of the climate crisis. Storm Ana, which raged through Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi until last week, has left more than 45,000 people, including 23,000 women and children, in need of humanitarian aid, says UNICEF. 

Meanwhile, Storm Malik, which hit the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom, has left thousands reeling from its impacts, ranging from power outages to the destruction of homes. These issues have been worsened by the effects of flooding, which can endanger lives, further hinder power supplies and prevent adequate aid mechanisms.

Flood-related catastrophes have increased by 134 per cent since 2000, compared with the two previous decades, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). As a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) underscores, rising global temperatures are dramatically affecting the water cycle, making floods and droughts more extreme and frequent.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners have been working to help lessen the impact of flooding in countries around the world.

“UNEP doesn’t have a magic wand, but we work with partners to accelerate flood resilience, build capacity, promote sustainable development, and gather and analyse the all-important data to inform policymaking,” says UNEP freshwater ecosystems expert Lis Mullin Bernhardt.

“We’re building resilience by advancing Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) on water and giving countries significant opportunities to advance their broader development and climate agendas effectively, consistently across sectors and with longer-term viability,” she added.

Flooding destroys biodiversity, lives, livelihoods, infrastructure and other assets. It can also compound health hazards, such as cholera, as sewers overflow and freshwater and polluted water mix. Standing floodwater may encourage the breeding of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in some places.

The WMO report makes a strong case for investing in integrated water resources management, a comprehensive framework for managing water resources and balancing social and economic needs while protecting ecosystems, such as wetlands that mitigate flooding.