A Localized HDP Nexus Response to Afghanistan's Environmental Crisis Under the Taliban

Climate change has catalyzed human suffering in recent times, extending to both the Global North and South. Heat waves in Europe as well as floods and droughts in Africa and Asia have left thousands of casualties. This state of affairs is expected to worsen as the world approaches its greenhouse gases budget cap. Climate change has served as a conflict multiplier, as people fight over resources and land. This is especially the case in underdeveloped countries such as Afghanistan, where most of the population resides in rural areas and regularly faces water shortages. The geographical nature of Afghanistan coupled with its population’s dependency on agriculture, renders the nation particularly vulnerable to the implications of climate change. A landlocked mountainous country, Afghanistan has had to deal with droughts, storms, floods, landslides, avalanches, and earthquakes as well as record increases in temperature (Omerkhil et al., 2019).