Attachments
At A Glance
Three Key Highlights
Communities are Experts by Experience: Afghan communities are acutely aware of the escalating frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters, particularly droughts. These events severely impact agricultural productivity and livelihoods, underscoring the need for better disaster preparedness and response strategies.
Opportunities for Sustainable Agriculture and Social Stability: Climate change has significantly reduced crop yields and water availability, forcing farmers to adopt sustainable practices and less water-intensive crops. This, combined with economic and social strain from poor yields and rising living costs, is driving migration and weakening community bonds. Integrating traditional knowledge with modern techniques and enhancing economic and social support systems is crucial to mitigate these impacts.
Adaptations and Coping Mechanisms are Intersectional: Local communities possess valuable traditional knowledge and adaptive strategies that are crucial for effective climate action. Engaging community members, especially women, in developing and implementing climate adaptation measures ensures more sustainable and culturally appropriate solutions.
Hard Demands from the Community
Groundwater/Surface Water Balance: There should be a balance between ground and surface water use, while designing water projects. In case there is enough surface water, then no one should be allowed to use or design projects for extraction of groundwater, in such cases they should use surface water, and they should protect groundwater resources as strategic reservoirs.
Watershed Management: As a mountainous and agricultural landscape there is high demand for watershed management in local communities to collect and save water through best watershed management practices such as protected areas management, wetlands, tree plantation and other mechanisms for several purposes in particular seasons and areas.
Climate-Resilient Crops and Varieties: The conventional varieties are water intensive or not resistant to the current climate change, so there is a need for new tested varieties in local communities as their livelihoods directly depend on that.
Forestation, Tree Plantation, and Vegetation Cover: There is high demand for forestation, tree plantation and rehabilitation of vegetation cover with consideration of new varieties of trees and bushes to be climate resilient.
Pasture Rehabilitation: Pasture is a crucial livelihood resource for many communities, supporting livestock and economic empowerment. However, it faces severe pressure due to a lack of alternative energy sources. Locals use pasture bushes for firewood, causing degradation, especially in central highlands. Communities need alternative energy sources and pasture rehabilitation projects for livestock survival.
Early Warning Systems: Most of the local communities, who are under threat of several disasters, lack even a basic Early Warning System. They demand community based EWS projects in their communities against flood, drought, avalanches, or other frequent disasters.
Hazard Profile and Mapping: Hazard mapping and profiling is the initial step to take forward to raise awareness of the locals and equip them with basic search and rescue knowledge.
About Us & Our Partnership
This brief launches the collaboration between Samuel Hall and REHA in Afghanistan. In June 2024, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to combine our expertise in both research ("soft") and implementation ("hard") activities addressing climate change response in Afghanistan. This partnership is crucial for addressing Afghanistan's most pressing issue: the climate and water crisis in the country. Our added value is to work with all stakeholders to solve this crisis for the benefit of the Afghan population. Our focus is on localising knowledge by engaging directly with communities and capturing their perceptions of climate change. This brief amplifies local voices—men, women, and children—to provide insights and recommendations that are both culturally relevant and practically actionable. Our partnership underscores the importance of integrating community perspectives with broader research and implementation strategies to address the urgent climate challenges in Afghanistan. This collaboration is a vital step in building a more resilient and sustainable future for the country.