Impacts of Climate Change in Afghanistan and an Overview of Sustainable Development Efforts

Abstract

Afghanistan is ranked fourth of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Climate change impacts livelihoods, food insecurity, and displacement caused by human induce-activities like deforestation and land pasture degradation. Drought is the major shock affecting 64% of household in 2024. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of climate change in Afghanistan and the country’s sustainable development efforts. This was done through an integrative literature review using database like Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science with a total of 80 articles spanning from 2015 to 2024. The study indicated that sustainable development efforts is impacted by climate change with agricultural sector projected to decline in wheat, rice, and barley (28%, 4.92%, 387kg respectively) by 2050. This not only impacts the country economy but also had an impact of SDG (Goal 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8). The temperature is expected to reach 1.5oC and 3oC by 2050 and rainfall by 25%. Precipitation will decline by 12-25m by 2050. Even though sustainable development efforts have been implement in area of health and agriculture with focus on reducing temperature that affect grain crops, 59.5% of people still experience food insecurity. Reforestation, conservation, and community awareness through community base programs has been enhanced. However, these initiatives are hampered by lack of regulations, government instability, and limited finance. To counter the impacts of climate change in Afghanistan, the study proposed recommendations such as international cooperation, funding for sustainable infrastructure in health, agriculture, and water resource management.