United Nations warns of increasingly unpredictable global water cycle

The United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that the global water cycle is becoming increasingly unpredictable, oscillating between extreme scarcity and excess. A recent annual report on the state of global water resources indicates that Earth’s freshwater storage—including groundwater, lakes, rivers, soil moisture, and ice—has been in a decade-long decline.

Key findings highlight that 2025 has been one of the warmest years on record, contributing to significant glacier shrinkage across all regions. Between 2023 and 2025, glaciers lost an estimated 1,400 gigatonnes of water mass. Additionally, nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide show groundwater conditions that deviate from historical norms.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo expressed concern regarding the depletion of ‘slow reserves’ such as glaciers and groundwater. She described these resources as the planet’s ‘savings account’ that traditionally acts as a buffer against droughts, warning that these reserves are now being rapidly exhausted.