Last year’s record heat led to prolonged droughts and extreme floods across the globe.
Published On 18 Sep 202518 Sep 2025
Share
Climate change is making the Earth’s water cycle increasingly erratic, resulting in extreme swings between deluge and drought across the world, the United Nations has warned.
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a report released on Thursday that the global water cycle was becoming ever more unpredictable, with shrinking glaciers, droughts, unbalanced river basins and severe floods wreaking havoc.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“The world’s water resources are under growing pressure and, at the same time, more extreme water-related hazards are having an increasing impact on lives and livelihoods,” WMO chief Celeste Saulo said in a statement accompanying the release of the annual State of Global Water Resources report.
Pakistan is the latest country to be devastated by floods this year [File: Reuters]
The international group of scientists assessed freshwater availability and water storage across the world, including lakes, river flow, groundwater, soil moisture, snow cover and ice melt.
Last year was the hottest on record, leading to prolonged droughts in northern parts of South America, the Amazon Basin and Southern Africa.
Parts of Central Africa, Europe and Asia, meanwhile, were dealing with wetter weather than usual, being hit with devastating floods or deadly storms, said the report.
At a global level, WMO said, 2024 was the sixth consecutive year where there had been a “clear imbalance” in the world’s river basins.
“Two-thirds have too much or too little water – reflecting the increasingly erratic hydrological cycle,” it said.
While the world has natural cycles of climate variability from year to year, long-term trends outlined in the report indicate that the water cycle, at a global scale, is accelerating.
Stefan Uhlenbrook, WMO director of hydrology in the water and cryosphere division, said scientists feel it is “increasingly difficult to predict”.
“It’s more erratic, so either too much or too low on average flow per year,” he said.
As global warming drives higher global temperatures, the atmosphere can hold more water, leading either to longer dry periods or more intense rainfall.
Uhlenbrook said: “The climate changing is everything changing, and that has an impact on the water cycle dynamics.”
The WMO also flagged how the water quality in vital lakes was declining due to warmer weather, and glaciers shrank across all regions for the third year in a row.
The meltwater had added about 1.2mm to the global sea level in a single year, contributing to flooding risk for hundreds of millions of people living in coastal zones, the report warned.
The WMO called for more monitoring and data sharing across the board.
“Understanding and quantifying water resources and hydrological extremes … is critical for managing risks,” the report said, flagging the dangers of droughts, floods and glacier loss.
It’s farm-to-fork dining at its freshest. I’m sitting at a vast outdoor table in Herefordshire looking out over rows of vines. On the horizon, the Malvern Hills ripple towards the Black Mountains; in front of me is a selection of local produce: cheeses from Monkland Dairy, 6 miles away, salad leaves from Lane Cottage (8 miles), charcuterie from Trealy Farm (39 miles), cherries from Moorcourt Farm (3 miles), broccoli quiche (2 miles) and glasses of sparkling wine, cassis and apple juice made just footsteps away. This off-grid feast is the final stop on White Heron Estate’s ebike farm tour – and I’m getting the lie of the land with every bite.
Before eating, our small group pedalled along a two-hour route so pastorally pretty it would make Old MacDonald sigh. Skirting purple-hued borage fields, we’ve zipped in and out of woodland, down rows of apple trees and over patches of camomile, and learned how poo from White Heron’s chickens is burnt in biomass boilers to generate heat. “Providing habitats for wildlife is important, but we need to produce food as well,” says our guide Jo Hilditch, who swapped a career in PR for farming when she inherited the family estate 30 years ago.
She’s electric: the writer gets on her ebike. Photograph: Rhiannon Batten
The tours offer an immersive way of seeing British agriculture in action. Pausing in the estate’s blackcurrant fields, Jo pulls bottles of chilled Ribena from a basket for us to drink (White Heron produces 5% of Ribena’s blackcurrant supply) and encourages us to taste the fruit: fat and sweet, the berries are a whole different entity to the wincingly sharp little beads growing in my own garden.
So lyrical do I wax about the blackcurrants that, after I arrive at my accommodation for the night, the estate’s homely Field Cottage, there’s a knock at the door: the delivery of a punnet to take home. I add it to the cottage’s guest hamper, which is brimming with tangy Worcester Hop cheese, local raspberries, some of the estate’s own apple juice and a miniature of its treacly, sharp-sweet cassis.
I don’t have to worry about working it off. The following day I’m back on the ebike on a new self-guided ride around north Herefordshire. One of a handful of routes the estate has curated around the region’s farm shops, cider-makers, cheese producers and farm-to-fork restaurants, the trails link up some delectable pit stops in different corners of the county, some of which feature on Visit Herefordshire’s new food safaris.
The estate’s ebikes come into their own on some of the rougher tracks
Setting out while the early morning mist is still loitering over the estate’s orchards, I swing over an old grass-covered railway line on to a quiet lane running between fields of hay, then wheel along to pretty Pembridge, with its rows of tipsy-angled black-and-white buildings. As if by arrangement, the bells start ringing from the church’s stand-alone belfry as I pass, giving the impression of a medieval rocket about to launch. I stop in the village stores to pick up a loaf from Peter Cooks Bread and a coffee at Bloom & Grind before pedalling on to Eardisland.
The mist lifts as I arrive, revealing a picturesque swirl of half-timbered buildings, a dainty 17th-century dovecote and an elegant bridge over the River Arrow. There’s no time to dawdle, though. I’m only partway into my 29-mile route and it’s mid-morning already.
I cycle down blissfully empty lanes to Monkland Dairy, set up three decades ago by ex-teacher Kaz Hindle and her husband, Mark. Having “bought a cheese shop because of a drunken dinner”, Kaz tells me the dairy came about when one of the shop’s employees mentioned her grandmother’s 1917 recipe for cheese. The grandmother turned out to be Ellen Yeld, one-time “chief dairy instructress” for Herefordshire, so the recipe was a good one. The Hindles refined it further to produce Little Hereford, a cheddar-like cheese that’s now the dairy’s flagship product.
The tour offers pit stops to refuel on local produce. Photograph: Rhiannon Batten
With Kaz semi-retired, the cheesemaking side of things has been taken over by ex-chef and former customer Dean Storey. Showing me the cheese cave and the dairy’s vintage cast-iron presses, Storey tells that me he makes 30 to 40 Little Herefords a week and up to 300 of the dairy’s deliciously creamy blue monks, plus some “more controversial” cheeses such as ones featuring garlic and chive; “My kids love it in pasta,” he says.
Resisting the urge to order the cafe’s signature ploughman’s, I hop back on my bike. Lunch beckons a few fields further on. The Riverside at Aymestrey is a pretty black-and-white inn beside the River Lugg. The hillside above it operates as a semi-wild kitchen garden. Among a bounty of damsons, cobnuts, jerusalem artichokes, fennel, lovage, kale, gooseberries and apples are pigs and chickens. “The garden started as a lockdown project and now we have 2.5 acres (1 hectare),” says chef-patron Andy Link, as he shows me around. “It means we can work in food metres rather than food miles.”
Soup at the Riverside at Aymestrey, which is supplied by its own semi-wild kitchen garden
I’m transported back to the garden when I bite into an appetiser of summer veg croustade – a mouthful of crunchy peas, beans and mint enveloped with crushed seeds. It’s followed by trout cured in gin and lemon verbena, with gooseberries and tendrils of sea purslane, then fall-apart local beef fillet and cheek from a farm 11 miles away. But it’s the dainty, cloud-like savarin I have for dessert that keeps this hyper-Herefordshire meal on my mind as I wobble back on to my bike for the ride back to White Heron; it’s soaked in a delicate syrup flavoured with pine tips.
The following morning, I do some foraging of my own, driving south to Longtown to meet wild food expert Liz Knight, of Forage Fine Foods,on her local patch. As we walk out along an old drovers’ road to the fields past her converted barn, Liz teaches me to look at the landscape not just as a view but as a foodscape. There may be an extraordinary panorama of the Cat’s Back hill across the valley, but we try to keep our eyes down: beneath our feet is pineapple weed, whose fruity flowers can be used to top salads or spice up cordials, broadleaf plantain, which can be fried like kale chips, and docks, whose ground seeds can be baked in bread and crackers.
Going wild: Liz Knight of Forage Fine Foods. Photograph: Rhiannon Batten
At one point, we come across an ancient linden tree, whose colossal gnarled trunk makes it a contender for the real-life Magic Faraway Tree, though Liz says that its real sorcery lies in its cucumber-scented flowers; delicious on salads, they are also said to help calm the nervous system. Nearby is a patch of yarrow. A forager’s cure-all, yarrow’s many medicinal properties include calming bites and stings, balancing hormones and soothing sore throats. Picking a few heads, we stroll back to Liz’s kitchen to steep the flowers with honeysuckle in vodka to use as a tincture.
Back home that evening, I make a salad using radishes, runner beans and soft dorstone cheese from the Oakchurch Farm Shop, another pin on Herefordshire’s food safari map. As I slice the veg, I think of everyone I’ve met over the last few days. Seeing such careful tending of food first-hand has left me not just with the lie of the land, I realise, but with the experience of truly savouring it too.
The trip was provided by White Heron; its two- to three-hour ebike farm tour and tasting is £50pp; full-day slow cycle rides £80pp; self-catering accommodation sleeps four, from £509 for three nights.Half-day foraging courses with Liz Knight from £55pp. For more information see visitherefordshire.co.uk
The day after Eid al-Fitr, a festive period for Muslims, is usually quiet; a time for rest, reflection, and recovery for most tailors who had had sleepless nights to ensure people looked colourful during the celebrations. For Abubakar Ibrahim, this March, it became a day etched in trauma.
It began as a brawl between two boys from neighbouring communities, Tunga Sabon Titi and Maje, divided only by a narrow stretch of road in Minna, the capital of Niger State in North Central Nigeria. The brawl quickly escalated into a full-blown gang clash, drawing in allies and sympathisers from both sides.
Ibrahim, a tailor and student in his early twenties, was at home when the commotion began. “I was heading somewhere when I heard the rants ‘karya ne wallahi, Ba sulhu [It’s a lie, no reconciliation]’,” he recalled. “While all this was happening, vigilantes were trying to disperse the crowd as we stood and watched.”
Moments later, gunfire shattered the air. He never saw it coming; six pellets from a Dane gun tore into him. Two lodged near his clavicle, the rest in his lap. “I didn’t realise I was hit until someone drew my attention while we were running,” he told HumAngle. “Then I felt dizzy, my leg went numb, and I collapsed.”
Residents told HumAngle that Mada, a local vigilante, had been aiming at the gang when his bullet missed and struck Ibrahim, who had no part in the clash or any gang activity. He was simply trying to earn a living, yet became another innocent casualty in a pattern of violence that has become disturbingly familiar in Minna.
Tracing the origins
Investigations by HumAngle trace the roots of Minna’s gang violence to long-standing turf rivalries between youths in neighbourhoods in the mid-2000s, when loosely organised gangs, locally called Yan Daba, engaged in sporadic confrontations, largely confined to street-level disputes.
Over time, the scale and lethality of these conflicts grew. Neighbourhood rivalries now pit entire communities such as Limawa, Unguwan Daji, Bosso, Soje, Kpakungu, Barikin Sale, against each other. Festive periods, school closures, and political transitions frequently trigger violent episodes, often leaving deaths, injuries, and property destruction in their wake. Some sources within these communities said the violence sometimes happens as weekend fights over petty theft, insults, or territory.
These confrontations have also spilt into schools, with rivals asserting dominance through violence. Schools such as Zarumai Model in Bosso, Government Day Secondary School in Unguwan Daji, Father O’Connell Science College (formerly Government Secondary School), and Hill Top Model Schools have all witnessed inter-school violent gang clashes, sometimes ending in serious injuries or deaths.
HumAngle has previously documented the activities of a gang with the same name in northwestern Nigeria’s Kano, where they terrorised neighbourhoods, showing that this style of youth-driven violence is not confined to one city.
These gangs are usually armed with daggers, cutlasses, and sharp weapons like scissors, animal horns, and screwdrivers.
This violence is not confined to the past. In a pre-dawn sting operation in April, police officers in Niger State arrested 24 suspected criminals linked to thuggery and armed robbery in Maitumbi, a troubled suburb of Minna. The coordinated raid, led by the Anti-Thuggery Unit and backed by local police divisions and vigilantes, targeted crime hotspots like Angwan-Roka, Kwari-Berger, Flamingo, and Tudun Wada, following a surge in youth violence and gang activity, according to police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun.
Minna is the capital city of Niger State in North Central Nigeria. Illustration: Akila Jibrin/HumAngle
In March, the state Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education shut down Government Day Secondary School, Bosso Road, and Father O’Connell Science College in Minna, after assessing ongoing conflicts between students and local youths, some posing as students.
Although many incidents go unreported, they continue to claim lives and property.
In April last year, a violent clash between rival gangs in the Maitumbi area left two dead, with shops, vehicles, and tricycles damaged. The police confirmed the arrest of six suspects connected to the incident and stated that efforts were underway to apprehend others involved.
Later in December, a 15-year-old boy, Saidu Ubu, was killed in another fight between rival groups from Gurgudu and Kwari-Berger. The altercation, which began as a minor dispute late at night, quickly escalated into a brutal fight that caused panic among residents. By the time police arrived, the attackers had fled.
More recently, police arrested 18-year-old Jamilu Abdullahi, known as Zabo, over alleged armed robbery, culpable homicide, and gang violence in several of the affected communities.
Caught in the fix
For residents like Ibrahim, these flare-ups are more than news headlines; they are life-altering. After he collapsed due to the gunshots, his brother rushed to the scene and took him to Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Specialist Hospital, a nearby public medical facility.
But the ordeal was far from over.
When they arrived at the hospital, they were told that there were no doctors available to attend to him at the moment. “They only gave me some injections but didn’t attempt to remove the bullets,” Ibrahim recounted.
Four days later, still in pain, his family turned to a local hunter in nearby Wushishi known for removing Dane gun pellets. The hunter succeeded where the hospital had failed.
“I was unconscious when I arrived at the hospital,” Ibrahim said. “I only woke up there. But the bullets stayed in me for four days until they were removed by the local hunter.”
The recovery was slow and painful. Ibrahim missed his exams, adding academic loss to physical trauma. “It took me a while [over a month] to recover,” he said quietly.
The vigilante accused of shooting him was reportedly arrested, but Ibrahim has heard nothing since; no justice, no closure.
Residents who spoke to HumAngle expressed concerns over the lingering menace that has not only continued to affect their loved ones but has also left them worried about having to raise their children in such an environment.
Illustration: Akila Jibrin/HumAngle
“I do not want my child to grow up witnessing this violence and someday be influenced to partake in it. It will break my heart,” said Danlami Shittu, a designer whose shop is just metres away from where Ibrahim was shot. “Every festive period, we hold our breath. These boys do not just fight; they settle old scores. Yet those of us who are not involved still pay the price.”
The missing links
Aminu Muhammad, a consultant in peace and conflict management, said the roots of this crisis lie deep within the decay of societal values and systemic neglect and a defect in the state’s justice and security frameworks.
He identified poor parenting as a primary driver of youth delinquency in the city, noting that many parents in the city are disengaged from their children’s lives, unaware of where they live or who they associate with.
This parental neglect has created a vacuum filled by peer influence and street culture, pushing many youths toward gang affiliation. “You must first take care of your children before they become more acceptable in society,” he told HumAngle.
Beyond the home, Dr. Aminu, who is also a lecturer at the Abdullahi Kure University, Minna, revealed that lack of access to education and vocational training has left many young people idle and vulnerable. Those who cannot enrol in formal schools are rarely offered alternatives to learn trades or acquire skills that could make them self-reliant. This absence of opportunity often translates into frustration and a turn toward violence.
Dr. Aminu also points to the failure of security agencies and the justice system.
“When there are calls to security personnel during violent encounters, the response is often delayed. These delays allow attackers to escape and victims to retaliate, perpetuating a cycle of violence,” he added. “Even when arrests are made, the lack of stern punishment mechanisms undermines accountability. These guys are granted bail or discharged without much consequence. Influential persons and even government officials sometimes intervene to secure their release.”
To stem the tide of violence, the conflict management consultant suggested a multi-pronged approach: stronger parental involvement, public sensitisation through the National Orientation Agency, and a tougher security and judicial framework. Without this, he warns, Minna risks losing its identity as a peaceful city and its youth to the streets.
Bello Abdullahi, the state’s Commissioner for Homeland Security, did not respond to multiple calls and messages requesting official comments on the issue.
For Ibrahim, the physical wounds have healed, and he has returned to his tailoring, but the emotional scars will outlast the headlines. And for other casualties of this violence, their stories never even make it that far.
“I want peace. Not just for me, but for all of us,” Ibrahim said.
