THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CLIMATE GOVERNANCE IN AFGHANISTAN

February 2024 3 ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE The Middle East Institute is a center of knowledge dedicated to narrowing divides between the peoples of the Middle East and the United States. [...] The third major challenge is the deepening crisis of governance that undermines private sector development, local initiatives, and innovative solutions to address climate change Figure 1: Most At-Risk Countries in 2024 (Inform Risk Index data, author’s visualization) 6 Introduction against the backdrop of one of the lowest national emission rates in the world, the result of Afghanistan’s persisten. [...] These are the lack of food security, and displacement, increasing the risk of financial resources, the difficulty of regional cooperation, local conflict.4 Clashes between settled communities and the implications of Taliban governance on private and nomadic tribes across northern, northeastern, and enterprise, innovation, and human capital development. [...] A considerable number of the returnees go, Afghanistan, leaving agricultural land on the northern side after multiple decades of living in Pakistan, to communities vulnerable.25 The construction of the second phase of the that are unable to integrate them as people already struggle canal that the Taliban has announced will put tangible stress with a shortage of food and water. [...] While the initial uncertainty in the market has subsided, a The Taliban’s rule has also undermined the environment mixture of political and economic crises as well as fiscal for doing business and private sector development, which constraints and banking limitations continues to deter could have implications for efforts to address climate capital flow and the type of innovative private enterprise.