By 2030 Afghanistan ’s capital Kabul will run dry – meaning there will be no water for the city’s estimated seven million residents. It will be the world’s first capital to run out of water, a basic resource, says Dr Anchita Borthakur, a researcher at the Chintan Research Foundation.
Borthakur, who researches on Afghanistan and is a South Asia expert, as a guest on The Gist said that more than 80% of ground water in Kabul has been contaminated and is therefore unfit for drinking. Add to that, the widespread cultivation of opium in place of food crops, because opium needs less water.
“Destruction of the entire agricultural infrastructure and coupled with water scarcity, has even encouraged Afghan farmers to grow more poppy because poppy is water restive,” she said.
It was not always so. In fact, the current crisis can be traced back to the country’s attempts to industrialise in the 1950s and 1960s. The Soviet invasion of 1979 was another blow as fighting not only destroyed crops, it also rendered the soil unfit for cultivation. Nearly half of the country’s farmland has been rendered useless due to continuous warfare.
While climate change continues to alter weather patterns and resource availability, the destruction of farmland, disruption of supply chains, and the forced displacement of farming communities, have caused long-lasting setbacks to agricultural productivity in Afghanistan.
“Previously fertile areas struggle with declining crop yields as land poisoned by explosives doesn’t recover easily. Due to the scarcity of water, Afghan farmers are now planting more poppy or opium, because it is not water-intensive. Destruction in t0he agricultural infrastructure has led to this,” Dr Borthakur says.
She added that war, climate change and their impact on human security have consequences at a regional level too.
Dr Borthakur discusses other implications of long-term wars, such as the threat from landmines, economic revival and so on. To watch the full video, click here.
