Shafaqna English– The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a UN’s agency announced in a new report that the Middle East-North Africa experienced the hottest year in their recorded history in 2024; a year in which temperatures rose at a pace more than twice the global average. This report is considered the organization’s first comprehensive assessment of the region’s climate situation.
According to Shafaqna, citing Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper website, the report states that heatwaves across the region have become longer and more intense. Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the WMO said that temperatures in the Middle East and North Africa are rising at a rate equivalent to twice the global average; a phenomenon that according to her “has imposed exhausting and unbearable heatwaves on the population.”
The report shows that the average temperature in the region in 2024 was 1.08°C higher than the average of the 1991–2020 period. Among the countries, Algeria experienced the highest increase, with temperatures rising 1.64°C above the 30-year average.
Saulo warned that extended periods of temperatures exceeding 50°C in several Arab countries have placed severe pressure on human health, ecosystems, and regional economies. Combined with ongoing drought, these conditions pose a serious threat to countries that are already among the most water-scarce in the world.