WMO statement on the state of the global climate in 2017

This annual Statement on the State of the Global Climate provides authoritative scientific information about the global climate and significant weather and climate events occurring around the world.

Extreme weather claimed lives and destroyed livelihoods in many countries in 2017. Fuelled by warm sea-surface temperatures, the North Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest ever for the United States, and eradicated decades of development gains in small islands in the Caribbean such as Dominica. Floods uprooted millions of people on the Indian subcontinent, whilst drought is exacerbating poverty and increasing migration pressures in the Horn of Africa. It is no surprise that extreme weather events are identified as the most prominent risk facing humanity in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2018.

Because the societal and economic impacts of climate change have become so severe, WMO has partnered with other United Nations organizations to include information in the Statement on how climate has affected migration patterns, food security, health and other sectors. Such impacts disproportionately affect vulnerable nations, as evidenced in a recent study by the International Monetary Fund, which warned that a 1 °C increase in temperature would cut significantly economic growth rates in many low-income countries.