Women between Conflict and Climate Change Crisis: Insights from Panjshir Valley the Afghanistan case
REPORT BY AZIZA
Abstract
Gender-associated inequalities are a widespread issue in the developing world. It is worsened as the the effects of the climate crisis are experienced in conflict-zone areas, affecting mostly women and children. The Taliban seized the Afghanistan government on 15th August 2021 and following that in mid-August 2022, several provinces across Afghanistan in central, eastern, western, and southern areas have been affected by heavy floods, which made the gender inequality situation extremely extensive. Panjshir province is currently one of the most conflict-ridden regions of Afghanistan, and the province has also been hit by severe floods and heavy rains so far. Therefore, women’s situation under the Taliban rule, the climate crisis, and the continuous fights across the Panjshir Province are extremely concerning. This report explores the effects of climate change and consciences on women’s situation in Panjshir Valley. In doing so, a number of women and local residents have been interviewed in this regard, which gives an insight into the current conflict and climate change challenges faced by women.
Keywords: Climate Change, Gender Inequality, Conflict.
Introduction
Increasing temperatures is one of the main reasons for climate change in Afghanistan. Research shows that Afghanistan had a 1.8 o C temperature rise (above the calculated worldwide temperature mean standard) between 1951-2010 (Aich, V.; Akhundzadah, N.; Knuerr, A.; Khoshbeen, A.; Hattermann, F.; Paeth, H.; Scanlon, A.; Paton, E. , 2017). In addition, the lack of availability of consistent data records, the complex topographic structure of Afghanistan, and security challenges caused problems in the accurate assessment of climate change variables (Matthew Savage, Bill Dougherty, Mohammed Hamza,Ruth Butterfield, Sukaina Bharwani, 2009).
The escalation in the climate change crisis severely impacts socio-economic development conditions (especially for vulnerable groups), agriculture development, and water resources management in Afghanistan (Matthew Savage, Bill Dougherty, Mohammed Hamza,Ruth Butterfield, Sukaina Bharwani, 2009). In addition, Afghanistan is one of the most conflict-affected countries across South Asia, and with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan’s government, the existing conflicts, especially ethnic war and gender inequality, have widely increased. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is at the top of the gender inequality index, which means it is the most dangerous place in the world for women (Afghan Aid n.d.).
Panjshir is one of the largest Tajik ethnic group homes and one of the biggest anti-Taliban provinces over the past two decades. Since the start of the Taliban rule in August 2021 in Afghanistan, the province has witnessed constant fights and conflicts between the Taliban and the National Force Resistance Group. According to UNAMA reports, the human rights situation in Panjshir provinces is extremely concerning (UNAMA, 2022). Moreover, Panjshir was severely hit by floods in July 2022 and because of ongoing conflicts and security situations, International Organizations were not able to provide humanitarian aid to local residents of Panjshir. Additionally, the women’s situation in Panjshir province is devastating amidst the war and climate crisis.
This research is going to address an important question: how has the climate crisis affected women at the heart of the conflict in Panjshir province since the Taliban takeover government of Afghanistan on 15th August 2022? There is little or no peer-reviewed literature on women who are affected by climate change and war in Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan. We interviewed a number of women and local residents of Panjshir province to identify the challenges they are facing since the start of Taliban rule. In addition, we have also used pre-published papers and articles on climate change, gender inequality, and Panjshir province reports.
The first section of this research discusses Afghanistan’s climate crisis, gender inequality, and the link to conflict. The second section discusses the women’s challenges between climate change and conflicts in Panjshir province. The final section concludes the paper.
PHOTO BY AZIZA FROM THE PANJSHIR PROVINCE
Afghanistan’s climate crisis, gender inequality, and conflict link
Afghanistan is a dry and mountainous country. Both of these features make Afghanistan extremely vulnerable to climate change hazards, as well as the fact that around 85% of the Afghan population is engaged in the agriculture sector. The agricultural sector of Afghanistan has been constantly distressed by droughts and floods in the past three decades. For instance, almost 40% of crops have been damaged due to the climate crisis in 2019, which has led to Afghanistan being found the 6th most affected country by climate change in the world (Palett-Wiesel, 2019). In addition, climate change has created a number of problems so far, including: damage to agricultural lands, heavy rains which caused floods, increasing temperature, burning the forest, and water shortages which also affects diplomatic and security relations of Afghanistan with its neighbour countries due to the sharing of regional water resources (Andrej Pˇrívara, Magdaléna Pˇrívarová, 2019). Recent floods killed around 1,900 people, injured 2,000 people and destroyed thousands of houses and agricultural lands (Mehr Agency News, 2022).
After the Taliban takeover, the Afghanistan crisis doubled and due to the collapse of the Afghanistan economic system and international restrictions on financial sectors and trade, millions of Afghans face the risk of hunger (Palett-Wiesel, 2019). In addition, years of ongoing conflict damaged all the main infrastructures of the country and made Afghanistan highly vulnerable to climate change incidents. Therefore, when a climate disaster happens in the country, it limits the people’s access even to food, basic health, and living facilities.
On the other hand, women and children are the most vulnerable group in facing climate change. The main reason is that when it comes to social norms women are usually excluded from decision-making, and freedom of speech which causes limited possession of resources in most South Asian countries (ICIMOD, 2022). Furthermore, gender-based discrimination created several challenges for Afghan women. Afghan women experience increasing day-by-day gender inequality, violence, restrictions, and ultimately removal from society. Therefore, extensive gender inequality limits access of women to food and hard work especially in the agriculture sector without pay, which gives men financial power and the decision-maker role in families over women (Palett-Wiesel, 2019).
Women’s Situation in Heart of Conflict and Climate Crisis in Panjshir Valley
Panjshir province is the major Tajik ethnic group homegrown with a population of more than 100,000 located in the north-central region of Afghanistan (Faculty of Art & Social Sciences, 2022). The last resisting province against the Taliban was Panjshir in August 2021 when the entire country was taken under Taliban control (Reuters, 2021). The Taliban have been accused of the violation of human rights during clashes with resistance forces in Panjshir province (UNAMA, 2022). Not only the Resistance Force, but the local residents also live in a devastating situation under Taliban rule; many local residents have been beaten and even killed by the Taliban force without any reason.
In July 2022, heavy floods drowned agricultural lands, destroyed houses, sank crossing bridges, killed their animals and damaged water channels in Panjshir (Mehr Agency News, 2022) .
“It was the first time that I saw such heavy flooding in the very first month of the summer season. I lost my five goats and all my crops [sank] in the flood.” Juma Khan from Absar district said.
Many residents complained that they haven’t received any help after the disaster happened and even the Taliban have banned humanitarian aid for people.
“We were promised to receive some assistance, but the Taliban did not allow the aid to reach us and even they [even took into] possess[ion]ed these supplies for themselves that were supposed to be given to us” Ahmad Karim (Name Changed) said.
“When the flood happened in our village, we didn't receive any assistance from the government or any international organization. Although some organizations, [they only]helped some villages in the center of Panjshir. Our village is very far from the center and that is why we haven’t received any help.” Karima Karim (Name Changed), a woman from the Shatal district of Panjshir province complained.
The climate crisis has doubled the conflict situation of Panjshir province and made people, especially women more vulnerable. In addition to the current strict restrictions, women in Panjshir deal with a number of concerning challenges such as abuse, physical violence, kidnapping, forced marriages, lack of access to health services, food shortages, poverty, and even rape by the Taliban.
Aisha is describing the flood day that happened in the Prayan district of Panjshir province “When the flood happened in our village, Paryan, we escaped from our houses because most of the homes are built close to the river. We escaped to the mountain because it was the only safe place far from the flood. Then all the women and children were sheltered in a mosque on the top of a mountain hill. Unfortunately, after a while, the Taliban came and expelled everyone from the mosque in a very violent manner. They closed the mosque door and warned us to not enter the mosque because they themsel[ves] wanted to stay there. We spent three days on the mountain and under the heavy rain without any food, shelter, or help.”
“When the floods increased and completely destroyed my house and my husband was on the other side of the village, I escaped with my children to the mountain. mid[way]the Taliban force stopped me and told me that I am a very shameless woman and that I left my home without my husband. They told me to go back home, but I spent all day under a cliff with my children until the rain subsided.” Hajira (Name Changed) a woman from Panjshir said.
In addition to the increase in violence against women, lack of access to health services is another challenges for women in Panjshir due to the climate crisis.
Sharifa recounts: “my son got sick due to cold weather and heavy recent rains, but we [did] not ha[ve] any medicine or access to a clinic”.
Shamila is describing one of the most tragic and challenging days in her life: “When the heavy rains started and at the same time Taliban were fighting with Resistant Forces in our villages, I was on my very last days of child delivery. Unfortunately, I faced some problems and I couldn’t deliver my son normally and that is why I needed to go to the clinic for a cesarean operation, otherwise, we would both lose our lives. [However], the road was completely covered by the flood and the only way for us was to cross the mountain subway with an animal to the nearest clinic which was almost five hours away and the war was still ongoing. My husband accepted the risk and carried me on an animal from the subway to the clinic. I was in intense pain of delivery and at the same time, the Taliban stopped us and claimed that we were spies of Resistance forces. After one hour, my pain intensified even more and I was screaming loudly. Finally, one of the Taliban forces allowed us to go our way and after three hours I reached out to the clinic and got a cesarean operation, which was a miracle that I and my son were alive after all. “
Meanwhile, recent heavy floods damaged agricultural lands where women were earning money and food for their families.
Sharifa says: “floods destroyed our agricultural lands and damaged all of our crops for this year. We don’t have enough food to feed our children and my children got very thin.”
In the heart of conflict and climate change, the situation in Panjshir is extremely concerning. Recent climate catastrophes in Panjshir affected many women and denies their access to food, health services, and increased violence against them.
Conclusion
Decades of ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, affected the country not only from the political and economic aspects, but also from social and cultural aspects. When conflict happens, women and children are the main victims. In addition, gender inequality is one of the big issues in Afghanistan. As a result of the Taliban take-over of the government, it has become a more intense issue, which has made women extremely vulnerable to climate change disaster also. Furthermore, the increasing restrictions on Afghan women excludes them from decision-making, leadership positions, education, and access to resources.
The Taliban have been accused of serious human rights violence in Panjshir province and heavy floods have drowned agricultural lands, destroyed houses, sunken crossing bridges, killed the animals, and damaged water channels in July 2022. The current crisis affected Panjshir local residents especially women and children in very concerning ways. This paper found that women in Panjshir, in addition to not having access to education and freedom of speech, also have faced violence, a lack of access to health services, food shortage, and poverty because of the climate crisis.
References
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Faculty of Art & Social Sciences. (2022). Is the Panjshire Valley the Taliban's Achilles Heel? https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/160015, 17, Feberuary.
ICIMOD. (2022). State of gender equality and climate change in South Asia and the Hindu Kush Himalaya. ICIMOD, https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/state-gender-equality-and-climate-change-south-asia-and-hindu-kush-himalaya, 29, September.
Matthew Savage, Bill Dougherty, Mohammed Hamza,Ruth Butterfield, Sukaina Bharwani. (2009). Socio-Economic Impacts of Climate Change in Afghanistan. Stockholm Environment Institute, Project Report - 2009.
Mehr Agency News. (2022). Flood leave heavy damages in Afghanitan's Panjshir. https://en.mehrnews.com/news/189406/Flood-leaves-heavy-damages-in-Afghanistan-s-Panjshir, 24, July.
Palett-Wiesel, K. (2019). Afghanistan: Where the Climate Crisis and Gender Inequality Intersect. Catalyst Mcgill https://catalystmcgill.com/afghanistan-where-the-climate-crisis-and-gender-inequality-intersect/, 29, November.
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