Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Afghanistan

Unpacking the complexities of water conflicts resolution processes in Afghanistan

Attachments

The need to understand water-related conflicts and their resolution process

Over the past few decades, research in Afghanistan has paid a great deal of attention to justice and dispute resolution processes related to civil and criminal issues. However, studies focusing more specifically on water-related conflicts have been extremely limited and anecdotal.

Water has been mentioned as a “major source of conflict” in Afghanistan. However, studies that have touched on the issue have mainly been limited to surveys that have failed to provide substantial findings on either the nature of these so-called “water conflicts”, the way local institutions frame water-management rules or the complexity of the social processes necessary for their resolution.

In 2013, an AREU research paper attempted to fill this gap. It focused specifically on water rights and the resolution of conflicts related to water sharing at different hydraulic and social levels within the Sari-Pul sub-basin in northwestern Afghanistan. Based on eight case studies, it described how local actors and institutions engage in resolving water-related conflicts, with a particular focus on the different decisionmaking processes and choices involved.

The findings presented below provide a basis for a critical discussion of the implications for water-sector reform undertaken by the GIRoA during the past decade.