Externe Publikationen

Water in a heated world

in: ACS ES&T Water, first published 14.02.2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.5c00088
Open access

The impacts of climate change, population growth, and overexploitation of water resources are becoming increasingly evident worldwide in the loss of ecosystem services, changes to precipitation patterns, prolonged droughts with record heat waves, glacier mass loss, degraded water quality with increasing water-related health risks, declining groundwater recharge rates, and altered runoff regimes in surface waters. (1) The German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) in its new flagship report entitled “Water in a heated world” comes to the conclusion that the frequency, magnitude, and duration of extreme events are increasing with impacts more frequently beyond the spectrum of human experience, escalating into “regional water emergencies”. (2) These threats are by no means limited to certain water-stressed regions but can be observed more widely representing a pattern with a planetary dimension, resulting in increasing loss of life and limb, increasing long-term adverse effects on human health (e.g., heat stress and psychological impairment), affecting large ecosystems and their biodiversity, and resulting in major economic losses. For these new and drastically accelerated changes, the WBGU speaks of these changes as threatening situations in which the limits of controllability are exceeded, social structures and ecosystems are substantially destabilized, and the scope for action no longer exists.

Über die IDOS-Autor*innen

Hornidge, Anna-Katharina

Entwicklungs- und Wissenssoziologie

Molitor, Katharina

Geographie

Löpelt, Sarah

Internationale Beziehungen und Nachhaltigkeitspolitik

Weitere IDOS-Expert*innen zu diesem Thema

Aleksandrova, Mariya

Climate risk governance 

Brandi, Clara

Ökonomie und Politikwissenschaft 

Büscher, Chris

Development studies / Political ecology 

Dippel, Beatrice

Komparatistik 

Dombrowsky, Ines

Ökonomin 

Donnelly, Aiveen

Politikwissenschaft 

Ekoh, Susan S.

Umweltwissenschaft 

Fuhrmann-Riebel, Hanna

Ökonomie 

Goedeking, Nicholas

Vergleichende politische Ökonomie 

Hagenström, Paul

Internationale Beziehungen 

Herrfahrdt-Pähle, Elke

Volkswirtin 

Kativu, Saymore Ngonidzashe

Geographie 

Lehmann, Ina

Politikwissenschaft 

Malerba, Daniele

Ökonomie 

Mathis, Okka Lou

Politikwissenschaftlerin 

Never, Babette

Politikwissenschaftlerin 

Pegels, Anna

Ökonomin 

Rodríguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo

Ökologische Ökonomie 

Schüpf, Dennis

Ökonomie 

Srigiri, Srinivasa Reddy

Agrarökonom 

Subramanian, Saravanan

Geographie