Sea level rise isn't the only thing threatening islands across the globe. According to new research, the majority of Earth's small islands are also at risk from freshwater depletion as their climates become more and more arid.

Combined, the two effects of climate change are spelling out a dire future for islands from the North Pacific to the Caribbean to the South Pacific.

It's an issue that's projected to affect 16 million people across nearly three-fourths of all of Earth's islands, according to a new study in the journal Nature Climate Change. And it could become a major problem as soon as 2050.

Researchers looked at a survey of 80 island groups that haven't had much scrutiny through the lens of long-term climate change on a local level as most of the current climate models exist on a global scale.

"Up until now if you lived in the middle of the ocean on a small island, you were without the information that rest of us on big land masses have of what to expect in the future," study author Kristopher Karnauskas of the University of Colorado-Boulder told The Guardian.

While half of the islands are projected to see more rainfall, the researchers note that evaporation driven by warmer temperatures will be the factor that drives the climates towards aridity.

"By moving beyond rainfall projections and accounting for changes in the climate system's evaporative demand for water, the picture of future freshwater stress that emerges is variable from one island group to another, but with a clear trajectory for the majority of islands towards a more arid climate," the researchers write in their conclusion.

The researchers hope that raising awareness now could help encourage island nations to get a jump start on freshwater management.

"There's an opportunity to get important information out there," Karnauskas told Newsweek.

His team's study could encourage further studies into the effects of climate change on small islands.

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