Brief description of the community/country and its experience of climate change
Afghanistan is experiencing a situation that reflects an intensified level of conflict and COVID-19 with an increasing prevalence of drought due to climate change affecting people's livelihoods (Orzala et al., 2022). The second-worst drought in 4 years (IFRC, 2021) widely affected the livelihoods of people who rely on agriculture and livestock as a primary source of income. As reported by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, USAID, the World Bank, and the Program for Asia Resilience to Climate Change (PARCC) have collectively provided $253 million in cash support in response to COVID-19 and drought-affected families (SIGAR, 2021). Afghanistan is the most affected country in terms of the prolonged nature of drought and climate change in the region. Drought has particularly affected the cities of Kandahar and Herat. Afghanistan’s most severe drought in four years reached its nadir in early 2021, which saw wheat harvests decrease by nearly two million tons; in Kandahar, the cropping season has been reduced to two seasons from four, and over three million heads of livestock were at risk due to fodder and water shortages. This environmental crisis coupled with increases in violence has triggered considerable population displacement. In the first half of 2021, more than 600,000 people were displaced due to severe conflict and drought, as reported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC, 2021).
Brief description of the climate-related mental health impacts experienced by the community
The qualitative study (Orzala et al, 2022) found a significant interplay between climate change and poverty in Kandahar and Herat, particularly in how they affect agricultural livelihoods. Drought, for instance, has dramatically reduced water availability for farming, resulting in lower crop yields and wheat harvests compared to previous years (OCHA, 2018). This has forced people to rely on alternative income sources like daily wage labor and migration. One respondent noted:
"Due to drought and lack of irrigation resources, I was losing my income. COVID has obliged people who were working in the factory and other manufacturing companies to quit their jobs as the companies are shut down. The income that we had from outside is now stopped. As a result, it has severely affected our livelihoods and economic situation" (Orzala et al, 2022).