People in Afghanistan continue to grapple with the challenges raised by four decades of conflict, acute poverty and restrictions on women and girls. Climate change multiplies these problems.

What challenges do people in Afghanistan face in 2024?

Multiple, overlapping challenges are creating a complex and dire situation for the Afghan population, impacting every aspect of daily life.

1. Economic Crisis: unemployment rates remain extremely high, as does inflation, acute poverty, and food insecurity. There remains limited access to international markets and banking systems.
2. Humanitarian Issues: In 2024, in part due to forced deportations from Pakistan and increasingly frequent natural disasters, a huge number of Afghans are displaced and face a range of humanitarian needs. The healthcare system is strained and there remains a lack of essential services, as well as reduced international aid.
3. Infrastructure: Decades of conflict and instability has meant that poor roads, limited access to electricity and water continues to make life hard for ordinary Afghans. Since 2021, international isolation has also stalled many development projects.
4. Political Instability and Security: Afghan people continue to deal with an unstable security environment, as well as ongoing sanctions and international isolation.
5. Human Rights and Social Inequalities: In 2024, there remain severe restrictions on women's rights and other minorities.

Is climate change already impacting lives in Afghanistan?

For communities in Afghanistan, the climate crisis isn't a distant threat - it's already here.

Even though it has contributed very little to global carbon emissions, Afghanistan is among the countries most severely impacted by climate change. Ranked as the 8th most vulnerable nation globally, Afghanistan has experienced a temperature increase of 1.8°C between 1960 and 2016 - nearly twice the global average - and faces regular natural disasters and extreme weather events as a result.

The effects are stark: prolonged and more frequent droughts devastate crops, while sudden floods and avalanches destroy homes, livestock, and livelihoods. This is amplifying the challenges faced by families who have resiliently relied on agricultural incomes for generations.

Why does climate change make existing problems worse?

Climate change exacerbates existing challenges faced by ordinary men, women and children in Afghanistan:

1. Economic Crisis: The climate crisis is disrupting agricultural productivity, exacerbating resource scarcity, and limiting economic diversification opportunities due to environmental constraints - making poverty, food insecurity and unemployment even more acute.
2. Humanitarian Issues: Climate change contributes to increased displacement and strains on the healthcare system by escalating the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, exacerbating humanitarian needs and reducing the capacity for effective response and recovery.
3. Infrastructure: Extreme weather events, such as floods and storms, damage already fragile roads, utilities, and development projects, further holding back economic and social progress.
4. Political Instability and Security: Intensifying environmental stresses, such as water scarcity, threaten to heighten tensions over natural resources in the wider region and at the local level.
5. Human Rights and Social Inequalities: Climate change deepens social inequalities, as women and girls and people with disabilities are more vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters and resource scarcity. Find out more.

What can you do to help?