Extreme weather events forced at least 38,000 people from their homes in Afghanistan in the first six months of this year – of whom about half are children, Save the Children said this week.
The organization said that 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.
IDMC also reported that half of people driven from their homes in Afghanistan are children.
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, Save the Children reported.
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.
Afghanistan is the sixth most vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change – 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.
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.
“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.”
