World Water Council Report

Both the number and the severity of droughts and storms are on the rise, according to a new report by the World Water Council. These and other manifestations of global climate change have contributed to a

tenfold increase in economic losses from weather-related catastrophes over the past five decades. The 1990s saw more significant flood disasters—26—than the past three decades combined, according to the report. Global precipitation on the whole has increased roughly 2% since 1900, but, as the report points out, this increase has not been globally uniform. The report, developed in anticipation of the 3rd World Water Forum, held last month in Kyoto, Japan, highlights the disproportionate climate change burden borne by poor countries. The 2000 flood in Mozambique, for example, resulted in a 45% decline in the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP). For more information on the report and the conference, visit

www.worldwatercouncil.org.