Satellite images show 10 places where water is disappearing globally

The world is losing an estimated 324 trillion litres (85.6 trillion gallons) of freshwater each year, enough to meet the needs of 280 million people annually, according to a 2025 World Bank report.

This persistent loss of freshwater, known as “continental drying,” is driven by worsening droughts and unsustainable land and water practices.

To raise public awareness about desertification and drought and promote action to restore degraded land, the UN has marked June 17 as the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.

In the following story, Al Jazeera examines 10 examples of shrinking lakes, rivers and dams across the world.

Spanning some 4,900km (3,030 miles), the Parana River is South America’s second-longest river, after the Amazon, and serves as a vital commercial artery connecting Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

Driven by multi-year droughts, a comparison of 1990 and 2026 satellite imagery shows how water levels at the port of Rosario have plummeted. This drastic shrinkage has disrupted grain shipping, reduced hydroelectric generation at the Itaipu Dam, and exposed expansive riverbed flats and newly formed islands.

Sitting at an altitude of 3,700 metres (12,000 feet), Lake Poope in Bolivia is one of the world’s most extreme examples of a disappearing high-altitude lake.

A comparison of 1984 and 2020 satellite imagery shows how what was once Bolivia’s second-largest lake, covering 1,000 square kilometres (390 square miles), has all but disappeared. Water diversions, drought, and warming caused it to largely dry up, turning it into a salt flat and destroying fisheries and Indigenous Uru livelihoods.