News Highlight:
Indo-Gangetic Plain drying up, Water storage declined, ‘streamflow’ rose in Ganga and Indus basins last year, says WMO
‘First State of Global Water Resources 2021’ conducted by WMO, published recently.
There is more evidence of the worsening impact of global warming on the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) that straddles eastern Pakistan, northern India, southern Nepal and the whole of Bangladesh.
Key Takeaway:
The Ganga-Brahmaputra and Indus basins that form the Plain, recorded more water flowing in the river channels due to glacial melt even as their total water storage declined in 2021, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP):
- About:
- The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) is a huge swath of fertile land of around 700 square kilometres encompassing the northern part of India, almost half of Pakistan, and almost all of Bangladesh.
- This large plain is formed by the Indus and the Ganga-Brahmaputra basins, housing around 400 million populations. This plain is also the most intensely farmed region of the world, with rice and wheat being the main crops.
About the report: First State of Global Water Resources 2021:
- The WMO report assesses the impact of climate, environmental and societal changes on the Earth’s water resources. The report says that this annual stocktake also supports the monitoring and management of global freshwater resources in an era where demands are exponentially growing while the supply remains limited.
- The report focuses on three major areas:
- Streamflow is the volume of water flowing through a river channel at any given time.
- The cryosphere (frozen water).
- Terrestrial water storage (TWS) — Total Terrestrial Water Storage, which signifies the total water on the land surface and in the subsurface—water stored in canopies, rivers or lakes, wetlands, snow and ice, groundwater and soil.
Highlights of the report:
- Streamflow or the water volume flowing through a river channel, the TWS and the cryosphere (frozen water) were the points that the report focussed on.
- The report found that drier-than-normal conditions prevailed in large areas in 2021 despite a prolonged La Nina event.
- The report found that the area with below-average streamflow was two times larger than the above-average area compared to the 30 years of hydrological average.
- Southern and northern China (the Amur river basin) were characterized by above-average discharge, similar to some basins in northern India.
- In India, headwaters of the Ganges River were characterized by above- to much above-normal discharge.
- Major Indian river basins exhibit a gradual decline in TWS over the period 2002-2021.
- On a longer-term basis, the report pointed out several hotspots with a negative trend in terrestrial water storage including Brazil’s Rio São Francisco basin, Patagonia, the Ganga and Indus headwaters, and the southwestern US.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
- Established in 1950, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization that originated from the International Meteorological Organisation (IMO).
- 192 Member States and Territories. India is a member of WMO.
- Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23rd March 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.’
- WMO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Way Forward:
Indo-Gangetic plains are India’s significant physical boundary to generate the high value of resource distribution and production. The aim of this annual stocktake is to support the monitoring and management of global freshwater resources in an era of growing demand and limited supplies, suitable methods should be adopted to stop further misuse of Earth’s water resources.
Pic Courtesy: Down To Earth
Content Source: Down To Earth