Attachments
KEY FINDINGS
Afghanistan is confronting a wide range of environment hazards, from floods to droughts to agricultural pest attacks. These disasters have contributed to asset, shelter and infrastructure damage, along with displacement and involuntary immobility. Climate change and environmental degradation are expected to heighten the risks of such hazards by increasing their frequency and intensity.
Despite these growing threats, many communities are ill-equipped to prepare for, respond and adapt to changing environmental conditions due to a lack of functional infrastructure, limited access to basic services, and limited coping alternatives. These challenges are compounded by the large share of Afghans dependent on climate-sensitive livelihoods such as farming and livestock rearing. As a result, communities have been forced to adopt coping strategies such as borrowing money, selling assets and pulling children from school, which can undermine their well-being and nancial security in the long-term. Beyond this, environmental changes are contributing to food and water insecurity, thus impacting the ability of communities to meet their basic needs. Due to the economic impacts of climate change and disasters, over 1.37 million individuals have left their communities in the past 12 months. Given the limited share of communities implementing adaptive capacity measures, these trends are expected to continue in the future. Consequently, communities have identied investment in infrastructure and livelihood diversication as key interventions needed to mitigate the impacts of climate change and disasters.