Climate change in Afghanistan

This has caused far-reaching impacts on Afghanistan, culminating from overlapping interactions of natural disasters (due to changes in the climate system), conflict, agricultural dependency, and severe socio-economic hardship.

Due to a combination of political, geographic, and social factors, Afghanistan is one of the most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts.

[24] This has led to reduced vegetation for grazing, accelerated land degradation, and negatively affected crop farming in communities like Hakimabad Village, Laghman Province.

[30][28] In August 2022 officials from the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management reported that flash floods across Afghanistan in the past year resulted in 511 deaths and over 3,700 injuries.

[19] A glacial lake outburst in Panjshir Valley triggered a flash flood on 12 July 2018, resulting in the death of ten people.

[34] As the nation is a low emitter of greenhouse gases but highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, adaption is urgent.

[35] In 2016, Afghanistan submitted its first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) plan under the Paris Agreement, pledging a "13.6% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030... conditional on external support.

"[36] Agriculture, health and disaster risk management are key focuses, while the country's lack of financial resources to combat climate change was highlighted.

[22] As of 2021, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed more than $900 million,[38] for irrigation and agriculture infrastructure projects to help with food security, agribusiness, and enhancement of water resources management through a climate resilience approach.

[41][20] As of 2024, generally the Taliban government believes that climate change is real, foreign powers are responsible for it and it is a religious duty to fight it.