Global Rundown
● EU science agency issues a drought warning for Europe, which could again hurt shipping along the Rhine this summer.
● Plant stress from a warming climate is cutting yields of maize, wheat, and barley.
● Preserving Vietnam’s native wild rice could help farmers endure drought, floods, and pests.
● New survey of global glaciers shows “an alarming increase in melt” in recent years.
The Lead
After a warm, dry spring, many of Europe’s waterways are parched. The Joint Research Centre, a science agency of the European Commission, issued a drought warning for the continent’s eastern and southern regions, as well as the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Low-flow conditions developed rapidly, especially along the Rhine River, a vital shipping corridor. Low flows have been a recurring problem for the Rhine, which in recent years has closed or restricted barge traffic in late summer. Weight limits are already being imposed for carriers on the Rhine, which fell below a critical threshold last month.
With the dry spring, the next months will be critical, the JRC noted. The seasonal forecast is for drier-than-normal weather in areas affected by drought.
In eastern Europe, southeastern Scandinavia, western Russia, and southeastern Turkey, “the prolonged lack of precipitation and warmer than average temperatures are potentially affecting river flows, with direct impacts on agriculture, ecosystems, navigation and energy production,” the JRC writes.
Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue
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● Dry Colorado River Forecast Gets Drier – Challenges ahead as snowpack fails to produce much runoff
This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
41 Percent
Share of global glacier melting since 1976 that occurred in the last decade. The new survey, which combines satellite data with on-the-ground measurement, shows “an alarming increase in melt,” especially in 2023, the record-setting year for glacier decline. Notable declines occurred in western Canada and the western United States, along with the Antarctic region and the Russian Arctic. The loss of ice in the last five decades has added about 25 mm (1 in) to global sea-level rise.
10 Percent
Decrease in global wheat yields due to a warming climate. Yields of maize (4 percent) and barley (13 percent) also dropped, according to the Stanford University study. An increase in crop stress due to heat and dry air has outweighed any benefits from additional carbon dioxide, the researchers found.
On the Radar
Four of the world’s roughly 20 wild rice species are native to Vietnam. The so-called “ghost rice” could help local farmers endure painful cycles of drought, flood, and pests, Dialogue Earth reports.
Wild rice holds genetic diversity that was lost in species domesticated for mass commercial use. Those genes, scientists say, could be the key to unlocking more climate-resilient strains.
The work to preserve wild rice and its genetic diversity is being carried out by a small cluster of institutions, including the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute and the Indigenous Rice Gene Bank at Cần Thơ University. More funding is paramount.
“Wild rice seeds require special regeneration conditions, which we are not prioritizing due to limited funding and manpower,” Nguyễn Thành Tâm, head of agricultural development at the MDRRI, told Dialogue Earth.
Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region
Federal cuts: Scientists in the Great Lakes region worry that federal staffing and budget cuts will harm their ability to monitor water quality, ProPublica reports. The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, part of NOAA, has lost about a third of its 52-person staff due to cuts in the last three months. The lab tracks harmful algal blooms, and its work is vigorously supported by the cities and towns that draw their drinking water from the lakes.
Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, Michigan Public and The Narwhal work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work here.
● Gotion, tiny Michigan town square off in court over $2.6B battery factory – Bridge Michigan
● Why Ontario is experiencing more floods – The Narwhal
● State regulators want to track and fix failing septic systems – Michigan Public
● Wildfires are getting worse. Can an old technique help control them? – Great Lakes Now
