The Stream, December 18, 2024: Extreme Weather, Flooding Linked to Global Rise in Malaria Cases for Fifth Consecutive Year

Australia’s Murray-Darling basin. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

YOUR GLOBAL RUNDOWN 

• The populations of more than 70 waterbird species in eastern Australia are down 50 percent compared to last year, a result attributed to wetland loss and drying rivers.
• By 2050, one in four properties in England could be vulnerable to flooding as a result of both intense rain events and inadequate infrastructure.
• For the fifth consecutive year, the number of global malaria cases rose — an increase that coincides with flooding and extreme precipitation.
• The water supplies of Mozambique and Mayotte are slowly being restored in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido, which is feared to have killed hundreds or thousands of people along its path.

Farmers and activists in Serbia continue to organize in opposition to a proposed 400-hectare, government-backed lithium mine in the country’s western region.

— Christian Thorsberg, Interim Stream Editor

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The Lead

According to the United Nations’ recently released World Malaria Report 2024, the number of malaria cases around the world increased for the fifth consecutive year, rising 11 million to a total of 263 million in 2023. Nearly 600,000 people died from the disease, and 94 percent of all cases occurred in Africa. 

As scientists continue to study malaria’s prevalence and trends, climate inequities and extreme weather have become important considerations. Cyclones, heavy rainfall, and flooding — exacerbated or made more erratic by a changing climate — create more ideal breeding grounds for mosquitos. This was observed between 2021 and 2023 in Pakistan, where a 62 percent increase in malaria cases was attributed to catastrophic flooding events that affected some 30 million people. 

Concurrently, the communities most affected by malaria are often the most vulnerable — 80 million internally displaced persons or refugees live in countries where malaria is endemic, The Guardian reports — with sub-standard sanitation infrastructure or access. Flooding also disrupts road access, and the delivery of supplies and vaccines.

Another report, published by the Malaria Access Project, estimates that “Africa will see more than 550,000 additional deaths… between 2030 and 2049 due to extreme weather events such as floods and cyclones.”

This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers

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Percent decrease in the last year of waterbird populations in eastern Australia, The Guardian reports. The results come from one of the world’s largest annual aerial bird counts, which surveys more than 70 species over roughly one million square miles on the continent. Scientists identified 287,231 birds this year, half as many as the 579,641 birds spotted last year. Dry conditions, researchers say, are largely to blame for the drastic decrease. The survey also studied wetland coverage — important breeding and nesting habitat for waterbirds — and found that its abundance had also fallen well below the long-term average. Diverting water and constructing dams have dried out floodplains and river systems in the region, they say. After heavy La Niña rains in 2021 and 2022, recovery failed to continue in a drier 2024.

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People in Mozambique and on the small French island Mayotte who have been affected by Cyclone Chido since it made landfall early this week, Reuters reports. As of Tuesday morning, 34 people in Mozambique and 22 people on Mayotte have died, though officials fear that “hundreds or even thousands could be dead” on the island. The priority now, according to authorities, is restoring food and water supplies to combat the growing risk of disease. Decomposing bodies are creating “a sanitary problem” where supplies are currently online. About 22 tons of resources began to arrive by air on Tuesday, when around 50 percent of water supplies were estimated to be back online. The French President Emmanuel Macron has declared a national mourning period and pledged to visit Mayotte in the coming days.

On the Radar

New modeled projections from England’s Environment Agency found that 6.3 million homes are vulnerable to flooding under current climate conditions, and that this number could rise to eight million — one in four English properties — by 2050, The Guardian reports. Models accounted for flooding from sea level rise, rivers, and surface water, with the latter showing the potential to impact 4.3 million properties as drainage systems become inundated with heavy rains. According to the Guardian, “flood protection plans have been cut by 40 percent in recent years because of a lack of investment in defences, with a quarter of major projects abandoned.”

Christian Thorsberg

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer from Chicago. He is passionate about climate and cultural phenomena that often appear slow or invisible, and he examines these themes in his journalism, poetry, and fiction.