The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement this week that the new “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership. With fact upon fact, this report reveals how people and the planet are getting clobbered by climate change.”

In what some scientists termed “the bleakest warning yet”, the summary report from the global authority on climate science says droughts, floods, heatwaves and other extreme weather are accelerating and wreaking increasing damage. Allowing global temperatures to increase by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as looks likely on current trends in greenhouse gas emissions, would result in some “irreversible” impacts. These include the melting of ice caps and glaciers, and a cascading effect whereby wildfires, the die-off of trees, the drying of peatlands and the thawing of permafrost release additional carbon emissions, amplifying the warming further.

Chapter 4 of the report assesses current climate change impacts on the global water cycle, projected water-related risks for human and natural systems, and adaptation options and effectiveness. A member of the team that reviewed more than 1,800 case studies for the “Water” chapter discusses here how water is central to the discussions about how societies, economies and governments adapt to climate change, and the vast majority of adaptation strategies already in place are water related.

More than half the world’s population faces water scarcity for at least one month every year. Meanwhile, some people have to deal with too much water, while others have access to only poor water quality. Climate change exacerbates global water insecurity because it contributes to more frequent and severe droughts, floods and extreme rainfall, accelerated glacier melt, rapid declines in groundwater and the deterioration of water quality. These water-related risks of climate change have negative repercussions for agriculture, energy production, water infrastructure and economic productivity, as well as human health, development and well-being around the world.

Rita Adrian, lead author in Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation, Vulnerability) on the IPCC Report, contributed to the chapter on “Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems and their Services.” Here you can read an excellent synopsis of her views on the impact of climate change on inland waters.

There was some positivity too: the report stresses nature’s potential to reduce climate risks and improve people’s lives. Its authors said that restoring ecosystems and conserving at least a third of the planet’s land and oceans would help absorb huge quantities of carbon and boost wellbeing. “By restoring degraded ecosystems, and effectively and equitably conserving 30 to 50 per cent of Earth’s land, freshwater and ocean habitats, society can benefit from nature’s capacity to absorb and store carbon, and we can accelerate progress towards sustainable development,” said Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chair of the IPCC working group II.

Finally, the BBC and Greenpeace have given their take on five things it is worth knowing about the IPCC report.

This is the link to the page where you can find all the IPCC reports. The main report is available here (281 MB).