The Stream, September 4, 2024: African Nations Are Losing Up to Five Percent of Annual GDP to Climate Change Spending, Report Suggests

In Burdhubo, a site in Ethiopia where people displaced by a 2022 drought were staying, many women and children were in desperate need of food water and health services. Photo © UNICEF Ethiopia/2022/Mulugeta Ayene

YOUR GLOBAL RUNDOWN

Tropical storm Yagi slammed the greater Manila region, quickly producing deadly flooding and landslides in several Philippine cities.
Spending on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and disaster recovery is shrinking the annual GDP of African nations by up to five percent, says the World Meteorological Organization.
Following record rainfall in northern China, a dramatic surge in vegetable prices has made food security a top priority for leaders.
The main water pipeline at Grand Canyon National Park failed, shutting down local hotels through Labor Day weekend.

River levels in the Brazilian Amazon are falling amidst a summer-long drought, hampering the movement of supplies to communities.

“In normal droughts, the rivers have enough volume to carry food, small boats. But not now. They have dried up and people are being isolated.” — Jose Marengo, a climatologist at the National Center for Monitoring and Alerts for Natural Disasters.

Every river in the Brazilian Amazon is expected to fall below its average historic water level this autumn, as several months of low rainfall — coupled with last year’s drought — take their toll in the world’s largest rainforest.

Officials have already shared several startling examples: both the Madeira River and Rio Negro are roughly 10 feet shallower than they usually are this time of year. The former hosts two hydroelectric dams, whose output has been diminished because of the drought. Meanwhile, shallower rivers mean downstream waterways are receiving less water too, resulting in fish kills, Reuters reports.

The effect on human communities is drastic. Subsistence fishing is all the more difficult in the absence of healthy fish populations. Meanwhile, the movement of goods and supplies is being restricted in some rivers to smaller boats, with some shipments of food being rerouted to other ports with deeper water levels. “Across the Amazon region,” Reuters reports, “communities are facing isolation due to lower river navigability.”

— Christian Thorsberg, Interim Stream Editor

Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue

War, Drought Cause Spike in Violent Water Conflicts — New report catalogs sharp rise in clashes connected to water in 2023.
Great Lakes Beach Closings Are No Protection From Harmful Pollutants — Updated water testing technology needed to make Great Lakes safer.

The Lead

Despite accounting for less than 10 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, African nations are disproportionately affected by extreme heat, drought, and sudden deluges. The unequal burden is hitting the continent’s bottom line, forcing its nations to spend up to nine percent of their budgets on preparedness, adaptation, and relief, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Last year was one of Africa’s three hottest years on record; if trends continue, by 2030, 118 million people across the continent will be vulnerable to flooding, drought, and deadly heat waves.

The Horn of Africa, northwest Africa, and southern Africa continue to face multi-year droughts that have exacerbated food insecurity, dried up reservoirs, and sparked nationwide protests and frustration. For Zambia, 2023 was its worst year of drought in 40 years. Meanwhile, sudden and erratic storms have interspersed these long dry spells, decimating soils and infrastructure. Landslides following one deluge this May killed 574 people on the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Just last week, AP reports, Mali declared a national disaster as 47,000 people were affected by rainy season floods.

Across Africa’s 54 countries, floods constitute the greatest hazard of concern, the WMO reports, impacting 48 countries. Drought is close behind at 40.

This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers

People killed in the greater Manila area this weekend as Tropical Storm Yagi — known in the Philippines as Enteng — dropped severe rainfall in the hilly region, AP reports. Hillside creeks overflowed, spreading floods throughout several cities and setting off destructive landslides. In Manila proper, nearly every school had classes canceled and government work was suspended. Those living along the Marikina River — which flows through the metro area’s eastern edge — are on high alert for evacuations as water levels swell near its banks.

Number of recent “stage four” water main breaks at Grand Canyon National Park, a designation that forces the temporary closure of many of the park’s famous hotels, AP reports. The failure of the park’s main water pipeline — which shuttered hotels through Labor Day weekend and led to water restrictions — is a challenging fix, occurring in a hot, narrow canyon known as “the box.” Crews will face a number of difficulties and safety risks when repairing the four failures. A $208 million rehabilitation project just began on the park’s waterline, which since 2010 has had “more than 85 major breaks that disrupted water delivery.” It is expected to be completed in 2027.

On the Radar

In China, where food insecurity has historically led to uprisings and unrest, leaders have scrambled this summer to respond to record rainfall and flooding that has spoiled crop production, the New York Times reports. The country lost an estimated $10 billion from the weather in July alone, which saw six million acres of farmland damaged. “The distribution of water is historically uneven in the country,” the Times reports, “leaving the south prone to floods and the north vulnerable to drought in the heat of summer.” Vegetable prices have surged, costing more than they have in years.

More Water News

Klamath River: The largest dam removal project in U.S. history is on the cusp of completion this week, as crews began clearing the final section of the Iron Gate dam, the Guardian reports. Located in California near the Oregon border, the effort — led in large part by the region’s Indigenous communities — will restore historic salmon habitat on the Klamath River.

Typhoon Shanshan: Officials warn that 24 inches of rain could fall over a 24-hour period on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, Al Jazeera reports. More than a quarter of a million homes lost power across seven of the island’s prefectures late last week as the storm system moved across the region, gusting 157 mile-per-hour winds.

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.