Afghanistan and the Global Climate Change

The phenomenon of Global Warming has brought the world together in Copenhagen to face its common enemy that it has created itself. This phenomenon takes me directly to a question which we had been asked while I was in the third year of my graduation in Geology. Our old, about to retire, teacher asked us a question which was: How will humans evolve in the future? What things do you think humans will have to get used to? What things will they have to evolve to face their new/modified environment? He gave us nearly a year to think about yet none of us came up with a convincing answer since we were all overcome by scientific explanations of evolution, in addition, none of us could see the future the way mysteries will unfold. However, the Copenhagen conference does throw light on the future prospects of human evolution to adapt to new/modified living environment. And to await those changes the conference aims to enforce an agreed code of conduct for the reduction of Carbon emissions though it can’t be stopped or ceased.

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The Conference has created a belief that the future will change abruptly in the coming 20-50 years with signs of such a change very prominent in a few places and at a few localities. Evidences of fast melting of glaciers all across the globe and more frequent natural disasters have literally brought the world at awe. While the richer countries are spending millions and billions of dollars in overcoming the problems created by these natural disasters which have been induced by the increased interference of man in natural processes, poor countries pay the price in the form of human sufferings.

Afghanistan and its poor allies in this affair have been literally innocent yet they are suffering as much as any other country of the world. Though this brings a notion for a silly mind that nature treats everyone equally for the time being but the consequences will still be felt much more in the poor nations like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, and African countries. Afghanistan has produced not even 1% of the Green House Gases that threatens the ozone layer and ultimately the melting of glaciers and the subsequent sea-level rise. In addition, more natural disasters do threaten Afghanistan in the form of more landslides, more torrential rains, probably more droughts, more flooding and probably more earthquakes. In fact, Afghanistan just passed through its most severe drought that continued from 1995-2001.

Like the effects of climate change, the political atmosphere in Afghanistan also changed abruptly. Before the US invasion of 2001, Afghanistan’s capital Kabul looked as an abandoned city of the Stone Age. Now, tall buildings mark its skylines. Luxury hotels, paved roads, small industrial units, and above all population of over 4.5 Million, functioning hospitals, universities, and much more of the sort bring back Kabul to a modern metropolis of the modern age though in the context of the third world.

What causes an interference of Kabulis in the affairs of natural system in Kabul is the lack of a developed canal system that could carry water to all parts of the city. Secondly, Kabul lacks sewerage system as well. The trash and waste produced by the residents of these tall buildings do pose a great threat to the drinking water. With the over use of meteoric water, the water table has already gone down to an alarming level. Further, the wastes of these buildings, which are transported and buried in the outskirts of the city is believed to pose a huge threat to the quality of drinking water. A recent finding in the fast degradation of Kabul’s water quality warns that if the trend continues to go on, Kabul will soon be an abandoned city.

Experts and Environmentalists believe that the Climate Change has caused and will continue to cause flooding in the northern parts of Afghanistan and Kabul will also be no exception to it. In fact, last year’s flooding claimed dozens of lives in the northern parts of Kabul.

Since the UN is strongly represented in Afghanistan and the international community has a political stake there, enough attention should also be paid towards the safety of natural environment in Afghanistan. The good news, however, out of the Copenhagen conference is that emphasis is being laid upon richer industrialized countries to accept their fault in destroying the natural balance and pay the poor countries to overcome the disasters which are and will be inflicted upon them due to their innocence and to a large part ignorance yet the question is will it be enough? Can money buy natural environment back? Will this money at least help the ignorant people of these poor countries overcome the disasters that are so visible because there are even lots of countries in the poor circle that don’t have National Disaster Management Departments at all.

Perceiving Climate Change an enemy bigger than terrorism is no false yet the world is not determined to fight it as strongly as time demands.