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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

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Water deficits are hitting countries around the world as nations struggle to maintain supplies due to severe droughts. Before we jump into it, Sustainable Switch Climate Focus will be on pause tomorrow, but I will be back giving you all the latest environmental developments next week.

Back to today’s main focus on water shortages, as Uruguayans in the capital Montevideo are praying for rain amid an historic drought that has left the city’s main reservoir with only nine days of water left.

Low rainfall and high temperatures across the southern region of South America have triggered a severe drought over the last year, affecting crops in neighboring grain producer Argentina and triggering steep farm losses.

In Uruguay, the water deficit is the worst in 74 years, according to officials. It is affecting supply to thousands of households and leading to poor water quality.

Water level poles emerge after waters receded in a reservoir, Changxing, Zhejiang province, China, August 20, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song

Elsewhere, climate-related disruptions to the crucial Hindu Kush-Himalayan water system are posing risks to economic development and energy security in 16 Asian countries, and concerted action is needed to protect regional water flows, researchers said.

The basins of the 10 major rivers that flow from the Hindu Kush-Himalayan water towers are home to 1.9 trillion people and generate $4.3 trillion in annual GDP, and climate change impacts like glacial melt and extreme weather are already posing “grave threats”, the China Water Risk think tank said.

China’s Yangtze river basin, which supports around a third of the country’s population and around 15% of its power capacity, experienced a record-long drought last year, with plummeting hydroelectric output disrupting global supply chains.

Since the drought, governments approved dozens of new coal-fired plants to allay future hydropower disruptions. However, coal-fired power also needs water and the surge in capacity in China and India could further aggravate shortages.

Severe droughts have also been felt across the Horn of Africa as the United Nations describes the region as the epicenter of one of the world’s worst climate emergencies. 

“People in the Horn of Africa are paying an unconscionable price for a climate crisis they did nothing to cause,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres during a pledging event in New York.

The U.N. received pledges of $2.4 billion to help fund aid operations for some 32 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, but the donations fell short of what the U.N. was seeking as it warned against a possible “catastrophe.”

“Crisis atop of crisis is threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions across the Horn of Africa: The longest drought on record. Mass displacement after years of conflict and insecurity. Skyrocketing food prices,” Guterres said.

Nations across Europe have also endured a dry winter causing concerns around water supplies. Southern Europe is bracing for a summer of ferocious drought, with some regions already suffering water shortages and farmers expecting their worst yields in decades.

The sun shines through trees in a protected area of Bialowieza forest, the last primeval forest in Europe, near Bialowieza village, Poland, May 30, 2016. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

Climate scientist and environmental risk reduction consultant Dr. Deborah Brosnan shares her thoughts on nature-based solutions from flooding:

“A study in 2014 by international scientists found that living coral reefs break up to 97% of a wave’s energy, a finding that proved consistent across 255 studies analyzed. The study also found that coral reefs reduce wave height by 51% to 74%, while artificial structures like breakwaters reduced wave height by 30% to 70%. 

“By breaking the waves’ energy, coral reefs reduce beach erosion, storm surge inundation, and help to keep sand on the beaches. This effect has key implications for the 200 million people who live within 31 miles of coral reefs, and for 6 million fishers worldwide who depend on them for income as well as for tourism.

“Investing in coral restoration projects costs on average 15 times less than traditional engineering solutions like breakwaters, and they can be combined with coastal development projects.

“Sand dunes also help to buffer the coastline from storm surge in addition to protecting properties and businesses. Sand dunes also command some of the highest real estate prices so in addition to coastal protection and natural beauty, dunes provide a financial value.

“Mangroves and salt marshes also protect coastlines and mitigate sea level rise. But mangroves also sequester four times more carbon than tropical rain forests and are rapidly becoming a way for businesses to acquire or trade carbon offsets.”

Solar power is a key driver of Europe’s energy transition away from fossil fuels, with solar capacity growing by more than twice the pace of wind capacity since 2018 as governments and utilities across the region accelerate green energy roll-outs.

Installed solar capacity in Europe has jumped by 88% since 2018, dwarfing the 35% rise in wind capacity over the same period, and in 2022 accounted for 24% of Europe’s clean energy generation, versus wind’s 26%, data from think tank Ember shows.

A worker selects coffee beans from coffee plants during a harvest at a farm in Espirito Santo do Pinhal, 200 km (124 mileseast) of Sao Paulo. May 18, 2012. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo

Coffee lovers beware as the weather pattern El Nino, which disrupts rainfall and temperature patterns, poses a larger risk for production of the robusta coffee variety than for milder arabica coffee, analysts and weather experts said. And keep scrolling for the Pope’s plea to ditch fossil fuels.

The El Nino weather phenomenon could further tighten supplies and raise prices of robusta, which has a higher caffeine content than arabica and is largely used to make instant coffee.The world’s two largest robusta producing countries, Vietnam and Brazil, could suffer yield losses if a strong El Nino develops, analysts and weather experts said.

Coffee analyst Fernando Maximiliano, from broker StoneX, said there was a nearly 40% drop in robusta coffee production in Brazil the last time a strong El Nino developed and it caused a drought in Brazil’s Espirito Santo state between 2015 and 2016.

Pope Francis speaks as he meets with bishops and delegates of the Synodal Path in Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, May 25, 2023. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Elsewhere, Pope Francis made a fresh plea over climate change that called on people to repent for their “ecological sins”. The Pope said the world must rapidly ditch fossil fuels and end “the senseless war against creation”.

In a message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, he said a U.N. climate summit meeting in Dubai on Nov. 30-Dec.12 “must listen to science and institute a rapid and equitable transition to end the era of fossil fuel”.

“The need to use the water we have wisely has never been more critical – for people, organizations and the environment. We are actually running out of water in the UK already – and we all have our part to play.”

Nicci Russell, managing director at UK-based NGO Waterwise

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