2. Impact of climate change on the water cycle

Water is the resource that humans need to survive, and that human societies need to develop their socio-economic activities. In other words: no water, no development!

Of the 1.4 billion km ³ of water on our blue planet, we like to point out that freshwater accounts for only 2.6%, of which 2% is glacier water. That leaves 0.6% actually available. What's more, this 0.6% can be broken down into 0.58% groundwater and 0.02% surface water. Surface freshwaters, which are often the most accessible to users, therefore account for the smallest share of terrestrial freshwater.

Beyond the natural spatial and temporal variability of water distribution, the impact of climate change, again according to the IPCC, concerns all compartments of the water cycle, i.e. precipitation, snow and glaciers, evapotranspiration...