Afghanistan: Extreme weather forces more people from their homes in first six months of 2024 than all 2023

KABUL, 6 Aug 2024 – Extreme weather events forced at least 38,000 people from their homes in Afghanistan in the first six month of this year – of whom about half are children – which is more than in the whole of 2023, said Save the Children.

Analysis of data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) found there were more displacements in the first half of this year due to droughts, extreme temperature, floods, landslides, avalanches and storms than in all of 2023 (37,076) [1].

While IDMC does not provide child-specific breakdowns for displacements that happen within a given year, it does state that half of people driven from their homes in Afghanistan are children [2]. Afghanistan also had the highest number of children made homeless by climate disasters of any country in the world as at the end of 2023 (747,094) [3].

While most displacements in recent decades have been due to conflict, in 2022 climate disasters became the main reason people fled their homes and moved to other areas within Afghanistan. Drought was the main reason for disaster-driven displacement, according to the UN. One out of every seven Afghans is facing long-term displacement, the largest number in South Asia and the second highest in the world [4].

Afghanistan is the sixth most vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change [5] – but also one of the least able to adapt and cope with the impacts of the crisis. More than one in three people in Afghanistan are facing crisis levels of hunger, driven mostly by climate shocks and high food prices. Twenty-five of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces face severe or catastrophic drought conditions, which affect more than half the population, according to the UN.

Kandahar province in the south has been severely affected by drought, leading people to move to other areas after hundreds of wells and other sources of water dried up. In one village where Save the Children has been working, around half of all families left their homes due to a drastic reduction in clean water, with the remaining families forced to seek work in other districts.

Children walked for hours to fetch water from a waterhole which was also used by animals, leading to outbreaks of disease.

Raouf*, 13, lives with his family of six in an area plagued by frequent droughts. His village, like many others, faces severe water shortages, forcing Raouf and his friends to make multiple trips daily to a reservoir about 300 metres away for water. This often makes them late for school.

Save the Children has constructed a new water system in the village using deep boreholes and powered by solar panels and families have started to return to their abandoned houses. This means children are no longer having to spend large parts of their day fetching water.

Raouf said:

“Animals drank from the same water that we used to consume. By the time we brought it back, it would become warm, and that water caused us to become ill.

“I’m very pleased with the new water tanker system. Before, we had to fetch water by hand in gallons from distant places, and the water quality was poor. Now, we have clean drinking water that doesn’t make us ill.”

Studies repeatedly show that girls and women are disproportionately impacted by climate disasters compared to men, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances. A 2019 UNDP report revealed that globally, at least 60% of deaths from extreme climate events over the past 20 years were women and girls[8].

Arshad Malik, Country Director Save the Children in Afghanistan, said:

“The climate crisis is fuelling the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. It is forcing people from their homes, destroying water sources, and preventing children from going to school. It is changing children’s lives. Compared to 60-year-olds, newborns in Afghanistan will confront 5.3 times more drought in their lifetimes [7].

“Afghanistan is seeing extreme weather events with alarming frequency. This year alone, thousands of people have not only been displaced by drought, but also by floods. The climate crisis is destroying Afghan lives and livelihoods.

“Adapting to and preparing for the impacts of climate change needs to be a priority, even at a time when funding is massively stretched. It’s been three years since direct international aid, which was equivalent to 40% of the GDP and financed up to 80% of public expenditure [9], was reduced after the de facto authorities regained control. Three years since the country saw a massive drop in assistance. Humanitarian agencies cannot be expected to plug this gap alone.”

Save the Children has been supporting communities and protecting children’s rights across Afghanistan since 1976, including during periods of conflict and natural disasters.

Our response to the floods in Baghlan reached 25,190 people, including 13, 670 children. Save the Children has programmes in nine provinces in Afghanistan and works with partners in an additional seven provinces.

ENDS

Notes to editor

*denotes name changed to protect identity

[1] IDMC provisional data on displacements for the previous 180 days (as of 27 June 2024) shows 38,488 displacements of people due to floods, droughts, extreme temperatures, storm avalanches and landslides. The true number for the first half of 2024 is likely to be still higher since the number of displacements from the devastating floods earlier this year may be revised upwards. The figures above are for the number of displacements. A person may have been displaced more than once.

[2] IDMC only produces age-disaggregated data for the total number of people living in displacement in Afghanistan as at the end of the year. As of the end of 2023, children made up 50%.

[3] Afghanistan was followed by Pakistan (515,378) and Ethiopia (403,855).

[4] https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-crisis-response-plan-2024#:~:text=IOM%20predicts%20that%20over%20900%2C000,million%20already%20in%20protracted%20displacement

[5] University of Notre Dame, ND-GAIN Country Index, https://gain.nd.edu/our-work/country-index/rankings/

[6] Save the Children surveyed 1,416 parents and caregivers and 1,411 children (660 girls and 751 boys, aged 11 to 17) in a representative sample across mostly rural areas in seven of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces – Balkh, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Jawzjan, Kabul, Nangarhar and Kandahar between 8 July and 10 August 2023.

[7] https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/born-into-the-climate-crisis.pdf/

[8] https://blogs.iadb.org/sostenibilidad/en/international-womens-day-the-unequal-impact-of-disasters-on-women/#:~:text=Furthermore%2C%20during%20and%20after%20disasters,disaster%20refugee%20camps%20(IUCN).

[9] https://www.csis.org/analysis/future-assistance-afghanistan-dilemma#:~:text=Even%20the%20United%20States%E2%80%94which,is%20only%2015.9%20percent%20funded.

We have spokespeople available in Afghanistan.

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For interview requests and more information, please contact:

Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Global Media Manager (Asia) amy.lefevre@savethechildren.org

Rachel Thompson, Asia Pacific Regional Media Manager rachel.thompson@savethechildren.org

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