Climate Crisis Affects More Than Just The Environment
Christian Parenti’s Tropic of Chaos touched on the topic of how drought in Afghanistan amplified the opium drug trade, worsened the effects of the war, and left holes open for extremists to take control. This topic caught my eye the most as Parenti illustrated to what extent the climate crisis is capable of affecting every aspect of society. The environment is not something that exists in specified areas or out in the wild, it is something that every inch of the Earth, no matter how much concrete, infrastructure, or humans live within it. As much as society exists as a means to escape the environment, it still exists within it and is molded by it. The effects of climate change are something that permeate into every crevice of society, going as deep as accelerating civil wars or creating a drug epidemic.
History of Drought and Flooding in Afghanistan
The climate crisis in Afghanistan has led to record breaking droughts over the last two decades, with the majority of Afghanistan facing minimal to negative precipitation during their rainy season of September to October. From 1997 to 2021, Afghanistan saw more evaporation of water in their country than rainfall for 14 out of the 27 rainy seasons. In comparison to the 27 years previous to that, Afghanistan only saw 9 years in which they received negative precipitation. Continuous drought in the region over these decades led to the destruction of arable land, agricultural yields, and ground water resources. All these confounding factors caused the displacement of millions over the years, with 700,000 people displaced in 2021 alone. This eventually led to desperate people with no form of income turning to resources such as shady money lenders and work with the Taliban.
Graph displaying the average yearly precipitation, temperature, and runoff during the September-October rainy season in Afghanistan from 1951-2021.
Credit: NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory
How the Taliban Benefited From Climate Change
The Taliban emerged in 1994 as one of the factions of the Afghan civil war, a time in which Afghanistan’s yearly precipitation was beginning to annually drop. Emerging around this time allowed the Taliban to take advantage of displaced and impoverished people who were impacted by climate change. Agriculture accounts for the main source of income for about 60% of the nation, with its weight on the GDP fluctuating from 20-40% over the last 20 years. The importance of agriculture combined with droughts and other climate related issues cause climate issues to have a larger impact in Afghanistan than in some other nations, leaving large amounts of people desperate and vulnerable. They typically have to then borrow money from the government which they are unable to pay back. The Taliban has used these opportunities over the years to recruit soldiers and members by sowing distrust in the government and offering payment in times of widespread poverty. The Taliban is said to pay its soldiers $5-10 a day, much more than they would make from farming in the first place. The growing food insecurity and displacement of people created large amounts of desperate and angry people willing to fight for money, only increasing conflict and chaos in the region.
Poppy Production in Afghanistan
Poppy production in the middle east for opium creation has been occurring for centuries, yet in the past two decades, opium production in Afghanistan has seen an explosive growth. Since 1994, poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has seen a consistent increase, with a 32% increase in 2022 alone after the takeover of the Taliban.
Graph showing the area utilized for opium cultivation in hectares and production of opium in tons. Their attempt to ban both the cultivation and production in 2000 can be seen by the stark dip during that period. Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
The soviet invasion in the 1980’s destroyed much of Afghanistan’s irrigation infrastructure, making it difficult if not impossible to sustain the traditional methods of fruit and wheat production. Poppies are extremely hardy crops that can survive with little water, produce a high yield, and are labor intensive, providing more work to jobless Afghans. Crops like wheat are more expensive to maintain, to get started, are far less valuable per hectare. Opium, even at its worst market price, is 3 times more profitable to farm in comparison to wheat (p. 37). Drought, civil unrest, unreliable growing seasons, and displacement have made poppies a very attractive crop to desperate farmers who did not want to turn to enlistment with the Taliban for survival.
Afghanistan’s Drug Abuse Crisis
As of 2022, Afghanistan produces a staggering 85% of the entire world’s opium, with it accounting for 14% of the country’s annual GDP. With an almost unlimited supply of the world’s most addictive substance along with decades of war and climate issues, Afghanistan has faced widespread psychological distress setting them up for a major and unavoidable addiction crisis. While the literature on this issue is sparse, the most recent survey from the Afghanistan National Drug Use Survey found that 8.5% of Afghanistan’s population uses opiates, in comparison to a 5.5% global rate and a rate of 4.42% in North America. Afghanistan is currently an example of the compounding effects of climate change, and the butterfly effect it can have on countries. The climate crisis causes a chain reaction of despair that goes farther than just warming temperatures and weird weather. It alters the very world we live in beyond recognition, making what was once a home a wasteland, it uproots people and takes everything from them. Among the chaos, avenues for fear and evil to take over open up, for opportunistic jackals to take control and push their will upon others in their time of desperation and vulnerability. Afghanistan is the example that should not have had to get to where it is now for us to come to our senses.
Cavallito, M. (2021, September 10). Here's how climate change helped Taliban win the war. Re Soil Foundation. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://resoilfoundation.org/en/environment/taliban-climate-change/#:~:text=Over%20the%20past%20three%20decades,desperate%20farmers%20with%20no%20alternatives
Chernov, M. (2021, December 10). Afghanistan shrivels in worst drought in decades. – The Diplomat. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://thediplomat.com/2021/12/afghanistan-shrivels-in-worst-drought-in-decades/#:~:text=Jobs%20and%20livelihoods%20have%20disappeared,60%20percent%20of%20the%20population.
Leao, I., Ahmed, M., & Kar, A. (2018). Jobs from Agriculture in Afghanistan. International Development in Focus. openknowledge.worldbank.org. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/29312/9781464812651.pdf
Nafeh, F., Fusigboye, S., & Sornpaisarn, B. (2022, September 19). Understanding injecting drug use in Afghanistan: A scoping review - substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy. BioMed Central. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13011-022-00491-1
Nicoletti, M. (2011). Opium production and distribution: Poppies, profits and power in Afghanistan. https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/74. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1075&context=etd
Press, T. A. (2022, June 2). Afghanistan dominates global opium production. the Taliban is shutting that down. NPR. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://www.npr.org/2022/06/02/1102586941/afghanistan-opium-heroin-taliban-poppy-farmers-ban#:~:text=Afghanistan%20is%20the%20world's%20biggest,trying%20to%20stop%20poppy%20cultivation.
Research and Trend Analysis Branch, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2021). Opium cultivation in Afghanistan . www.unodc.org. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-monitoring/Afghanistan/Opium_cultivation_Afghanistan_2022.pdf?ftag=YHF4eb9d17
Hey Jackson, this was a great post! I was very interested by the statistics on Afghanistan’s drought and the fact that they were losing more water to evaporation than they were gaining in rainfall. I had never heard about that before and can't imagine how devastating that must be for the population. It's also stunning to me how much higher the opioid use is in Afghanistan compared to the world average.
ReplyDeleteHey Jackson, loved reading this. I wrote my blog post on the topic as well. Your first graph is really informational in understanding the background of the situation in Afghanistan. I also am stunned at the fact that opium is 3 times more profitable than wheat. It just puts you in the shoes of the economic situation over there which is much different than our current situation here.
ReplyDeleteHey Jackson great post! I liked the perspective you brought to this topic. I liked how you talked about climate change and how the droughts affected what they could produce in Afghanistan. Also I liked how you brought up how the Taliban benefited from climate change and I liked how you brought up the drug abuse problem in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteHey Jackson, great job on your post. This is similar to the topic that I did as well and liked reading another persons thoughts on the same subject. I like both of the graphs that you used. The second one is cool because you can see towards the end of it is where the Taliban took back over and the production somewhat drops off.
ReplyDeleteHi Jackson, well done! You described how climate change has affected Afghanistan really well and made me think this crisis has really affected them in the most ways possible. It's eye opening to me that even at a low price, opium can be three more times profitable than wheat. Opium use is an issue around the world, however it is these people's way of life and put things in a tough situation.
ReplyDeleteNice post Jackson! I thought it was interesting to learn about the poppies when reading Tropic of Chaos, so I thought it was interesting to learn more! I also really like your writing style, the opening paragraph was very powerful. I like how you included the drug crisis in Afghanistan, it didn't talk about that in the book if I remember correctly but it was something I definitely wondered and worried about with the amount of opium they produce.
ReplyDeleteVery informative and a good read. I was astonished by the 700,000 people being displaced, that really is jaw-dropping. It is also a sad fact that opium use is twice as high compared to the US. It really can ruin people's livelihood. I am glad that this example serves as a point that things should not have to get as bad as they already have in Afghanistan, but sad at the same time as I do not know what solutions will be implemented to provide a brighter future for this country.
ReplyDeleteJackson, your posting was extremely organized and I really enjoyed reading what you had to say. Your post allowed me to learn more about the Poppy Production that I did not know prior. For instance it was interesting to learn that poppies are very tough plants that need little water to grow, yield a lot, and need a lot of effort, giving unemployed Afghans extra work.
ReplyDeleteHey Jackson,
ReplyDeleteOpium is a crazy substance. I cannot believe how many tons they were producing out there. They were hauling in a bag between 2006 and 2018. How do you fix something like this? It seems impossible when so many people are consuming it. Who would have thought a poppy plant would alter the lives of thousands?
Hi Jackson, I loved your post! I also did a post on poppies in general and I think it's interesting reading about it in a different perspective. One thing that really stuck out to me was the impact the Taliban has had on the production of poppies. The fact that the Taliban is paying its soldiers from $5-10 a day is crazy, especially when I imagine myself making up to $300 a month. It definitely puts things into a different point of view.
ReplyDeleteVery informative and well-organized post! I like how clear you were about the history of the poppies. It was very eye-opening to see how many more seasons of negative rainfall is experiencing as the climate changes. It was also interesting to see the statistics on how many more people are using opium compared with other non-producing countries.
ReplyDelete