A recent Taliban decree bans women from praying aloud in the presence of one another, prohibiting them from hearing each other’s voices. Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have implemented numerous such decrees, raising serious concerns about the basic rights of the Afghan population. Unfortunately, international organizations and countries have largely failed to take meaningful action to support those living under Taliban rule.
But at least much of the rest of the world is aware of those human rights issues. That is not the case with the climate crisis facing Afghanistan. There has been little foreign media coverage of the fact that, despite contributing only 0.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, this landlocked country of around 42 million people faces increasing environmental disasters that make it one of the world’s lands that are most vulnerable to climate change.
Erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, unseasonal frosts and flash floods are now common. At present, Afghanistan is ranked sixth in global climate vulnerability and fourth in disaster risk, with the International Rescue Committee identifying it as the third most affected country by climate change in 2023.
Since 1950, temperatures in Afghanistan have increased by 1.8°C, more than twice the global average, which has led to changes in average rainfall patterns and an increase in floods, landslides, and fluctuating groundwater levels. The lack of infrastructure to manage annual floods is estimated to result in economic losses of around $400 million, impacting approximately 335,000 people.
Simultaneously, Afghanistan is grappling with frequent droughts; as of August 2023, 25 out of 34 provinces were experiencing severe or catastrophic drought conditions, affecting over 50% of the country’s population.
The situation is undoubtedly worrisome. Data from 2023 show that approximately 79% of the country’s population does not have adequate access to water, and 67% of households are affected by drought-related hardships while floods impact an additional 16% of the population.
To address climate change concerns, the UNDP and other UN agencies are creating a comprehensive framework comprising four key pillars: climate and disaster risk management; resilient agriculture, livelihoods, and MSMEs; energy and climate-resilient infrastructure to support communities; and water resources and ecosystem management.
At the same time, the Taliban have sought to build infrastructure to use water more productively and effectively. To deal with the severity of the water crisis, the Taliban regime has been engaged in building around 300 projects aimed at water management in different provinces. Yet some of these hydro-engineering projects have created political issues with the neighboring countries, embroiling Afghanistan and its water-sharing neighbors in disputes.
For instance, the ambitious Qosh Tepa Canal in Afghanistan is expected to significantly impact the water flow of the Amu Darya River, potentially escalating tensions between Afghanistan and its Central Asian neighbors, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
This canal, which is 285 kilometres long, 100 meters wide, and eight meters deep, will have a capacity of approximately 650 cubic meters per second, supplying water to the Balkh, Jawzan, and Faryab provinces. It aims to extract 10 billion cubic meters of water from the Amu Darya River and transform around 550,000 hectares of desert land into farmland, which could affect agricultural production and related economic activities in the region, leading to increased disputes over shared water resources.
In May 2023, heightened tensions over water rights from the transboundary Helmand River led to a violent clash between Iranian border guards and Taliban fighters near the border, resulting in the deaths of two Iranian border guards and one Taliban fighter. This incident underscores the growing tensions over shared water resources between Iran and Afghanistan.
The limited measures currently in place are insufficient to address Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis linked to climate change. The country urgently requires international assistance to confront imminent climate disasters,
However, Afghanistan is excluded from climate policy negotiations because the Taliban is not recognized as an official government. In light of this, ahead of the 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, has called for Afghanistan’s inclusion in the conference.
Yet it is unlikely that the Taliban will be invited to COP29. This year, as in 2023, Abdulhadi Ackakzai, an Afghan climate change activist, has been permitted by UN officials to attend COP29 as an observer. In 2023, non-invitation to attend COP28 held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates was protested by the country’s National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). At the time, the head of the climate change department of NEPA, Rohullah Amin, stated that the issue of climate change should not be politicised.
With a large portion of the Afghan population suffering under Taliban rule, it is crucial to find a solution before it becomes too late. Both inhuman decrees from the Taliban and the accelerating climate change are stifling the Afghan population.
Dr Amit Ranjan’s research interests include water disputes, South Asian politics (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), India’s regional policy and India’s internal security. His papers, review essays and book reviews have been widely published in journals, including Asian Affairs, India Quarterly, South Asia Research, and Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs. He has also contributed commentaries, opinion editorials and reviews in newspapers and websites.
Genevieve Donnellon-May is a Researcher at Oxford Global Society and a fellow at the Indo-Pacific Studies Center. She sits on the advisory board member of Modern Diplomacy and is a 2023 CSIS Pacific Forum Young Leader.