Transboundary Water Resources in Afghanistan. Climate Change and Land-Use Implications

522 Pages·2016·153.75 MB·English

by  John F. Shroder

TRANSBOUNDARY WATER RESOURCES
IN AFGHANISTAN
TRANSBOUNDARY
WATER
RESOURCES
IN AFGHANISTAN
Climate Change and Land-Use
Implications
John Shroder and Sher Jan Ahmadzai
Center for Afghanistan Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE
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Front cover legend: Kajakai Dam, Helmand province, is utilized for hydro power, September 9, 2009 in
Helmand, southern Afghanistan. Provides electricity to Helmand and Kandahar
Back cover legend: Afghanistan’s first national park, Band-e-Amir in Bamyan
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Contributors
N. Eqrar University of Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan L. Sinfield US Navy, San Diego, CA, United States
P. McNamara University of Nebraska at Omaha, A.K. Stewart St. Lawrence University, Canton,
Omaha, NE, United States NY, United States
ix
About the Authors
John (Jack) F. Shroder is a Senior Research Scholar in the Center
for Afghanistan Studies (CAS), as well as an Emeritus Professor
of Geography and Geology at the University of Nebraska
at Omaha, where he has worked since 1969. Co-founder
with Chris Jung of the CAS in 1972, Dr. Shroder has studied
Afghanistan’s natural environment in detail using ground sur-
veys and satellite-image analysis for much of the past four de-
cades. Author of many scientific papers and opinion editorials
about Afghanistan, and most recently a book entitled Natural
Resources in Afghanistan, Dr. Shroder has offered factual infor-
mation and observations about his geographic and geologic
perspectives on centuries of conflict in the region.
Dr. Shroder has traveled extensively throughout Afghanistan,
mainly in the 1970s when life in the country was considerably
safer than presently. During the time that Shroder was Director of the National Atlas of
Afghanistan in 1977–78, four-wheel drive and ambulatory field work, as well as low- altitude
aircraft provided by the American embassy, allowed extensive survey of the country. Once
the wars started in 1979 and field work was no longer possible, Dr. Shroder used multiple sat-
ellite sensors to investigate ground conditions nationwide for the next 30 years. Co-directing
the GLIMS Project in Afghanistan after 2000, Dr. Shroder helped to assess the solid and liquid
water resources in the Hindu Kush and Western Himalaya as part of the efforts in the Global
Land Ice Measurement from Space, which was begun and managed by the U.S. Geological
Survey and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). After the 9/11 attacks
in the U.S.A. by Al Qaeda, Dr. Shroder returned to Kabul numerous times to renew profes-
sional associations with Afghan professors and to assist in educational development of Kabul
Polytechnic University and Kabul University.
Now retired in Crested Butte in the mountains of Colorado,
Dr. Shroder maintains an avid interest in all things Afghanistan,
and continues to publish extensively on that country.
Sher Jan Ahmadzai is the Director for the Center for
Afghanistan Studies (CAS) at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha. He has been working at the center since 2007 in various
positions. Before joining the CAS, he served in the Office of
the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Prior to
leaving Afghanistan, he served as Director of the Presidential
Schedule at the Office of the President of Afghanistan where he
was responsible for managing President Hamid Karzai’s day-
to-day work schedule. During Mr. Ahmadzai’s efforts at the
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xii ABOUT THE AUTHORS
palace, he was able to foster and maintain professional relations with government, commu-
nity, and political leaders across Afghanistan and with the representatives of the international
community in Kabul.
Mr. Ahmadzai’s areas of specialty are Afghan governance, Afghan hydropolitics, tribal
dynamics, and their impacts on the public and their relationship with the government as an
institution providing public services based on appropriate public policies. Other specialty
areas of Mr. Ahmadzai are Afghanistan–Pakistan relations, U.S. involvement in Afghanistan,
and regional security in South-Central Asia.
Mr. Ahmadzai has written op-eds and articles for the BBC, CNN, and Omaha World-Herald,
and a number of papers on various political issues concerning Afghanistan, the United States,
and the region of South-Central Asia. He is also a regular contributor/commentator on BBC
Pashto and Dari radio programs and the Voice of America (VOA) Pashto and Dari services on
various social, political, and current affairs regarding Afghanistan and the U.S.A.
Professor Naim Eqrar has held teaching positions for
more than 20 years in the Department of Geology of the
Faculty of Geosciences, University of Kabul as a Dean,
Head of the Department of Geology, and Professor of Water
Resources. He has developed several course materials for
a national training of experts for the national and interna-
tional agencies at various levels and supervised over 50
training courses. Professor Eqrar has recently (2010-2015)
developed his doctoral dissertation on the Hydrogeology
and Hydrochemistry of Kabul City at Bonn University-
Germany to the final stage and will defend his dissertation
this year (2016). Professor Eqrar has participated as a guest
professor of water resources, as a speaker, presenter, and Afghanistan country represen-
tative at several conferences and workshops abroad, including the USA, Norway, India,
Germany, Belgium, Iran, Nepal, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Russia, and the Czech Republic.
Professor Eqrar has published a large number of scientific reports, journal articles, and
conference papers. He has been an editorial board member of five national journals and a
technical reviewer for over 10 scientific papers. He has an extensive teaching experience
in the fields of hydrology, hydrogeology, water resources, and hydrochemistry, particu-
larly concerning water resources of the area of Afghanistan. Professor Eqrar is a member
of the Supreme Council of the Water and Land of Afghanistan (SCoWLA), a member of the
National Hydrological Committee of Afghanistan (NHCA), a member of the steering com-
mittee of the Small Grand Program (SGP) OP6 Country Program Strategy Development of
UNDP, and a member of the Strengthening the Resilience of Rural Livelihood Options of
Climate Change Projects for Afghan Communities, promoted by UNDP/MAIL.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS xiii
Patrick McNamara serves as Director of International
Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha. His exper-
tise is in facilitating multi-party stakeholder processes, with
a growing focus on the intersection between public policy
and natural-resources management. Dr. McNamara has been
a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar in India studying water
conflict, a scholar-in-residence at the International Water
Management Institute in Sri Lanka, a participant in the
Nebraska Water Leaders Academy, and most recently with
Dr. Shroder and Mr. Ahmadzai, Dr. McNamara is helping to
facilitate an ongoing transboundary water-cooperation proj-
ect in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan that is funded by
the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the Lounsbery Foundation
from Washington, D.C.
Mr. Len Sinfield has over 30 years of experience working
as a hydrogeologist and is currently a water compliance man-
ager with the U.S. Navy in San Diego, California. He worked
as a civilian with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on water-
development projects throughout southern Afghanistan in
2012 and early 2013, with an emphasis on developing water
sources for the City of Kandahar along with Afghan govern-
mental partners.
Dr. Alexander K. Stewart, U.S. Army (retired), is a vet-
eran of the Cold War and three foreign wars; most re-
cently (2009), he spent a year as a soldier-geologist with the
Texas Agricultural Development Team (143rd Long-Range
Surveillance Detachment, 36th Infantry and 82nd Airborne
Divisions) in Afghanistan. His time with this unique coun-
terinsurgency team provided the opportunity to help the
people of Afghanistan, not by means of his military train-
ing, but through his civilian skills as a professor and scien-
tist. It was during his many dam-assessment missions in
Afghanistan that Dr. Stewart became interested in water-
resources in the region. Dr. Stewart is currently an Associate
Professor of Geology at St. Lawrence University in Canton,
New York State.
Foreword to Transboundary Water
Resources in Afghanistan
One of the most urgent challenges of the intertwined with Afghanistan’s develop-
21st century is to ensure sustainable food and ment and that of its downstream neighbors.
water security in the face of population and in- Importantly, all these countries have arid and
come increases, a changing climate, and grow- semi-arid climates, and depend heavily on
ing demands for scarce water resources. This irrigated agriculture for their food security.
enormous challenge, which has significant Afghanistan and its neighbors irrigate over
political, environmental, social and economic 38 million hectares of land, almost twice as
implications, plays itself out in different ways much as is irrigated in all of the United States
in different contexts. and constituting in some of these countries
In the almost 150 countries whose rivers, as much as 80% or 90% of the land avail-
lakes and/or aquifers cross international able for agricultural production. In a region
boundaries, addressing this challenge re- where food, water, and energy supplies are
quires effective transboundary water man- already vulnerable and subject to increasing
agement, especially when these water bodies pressures from political and social conflicts,
constitute the major or only source of renew- population growth, and climate change, the
able water. In such contexts, no one country rivers that originate in Afghanistan have a
can fully control its water resources, and major impact on the water, food, and energy
policy makers need to work through interna- security of their neighbors downstream. And
tional cooperation and transboundary water while Afghanistan’s water resources are at
agreements. To do so successfully, they need present relatively underdeveloped, over time
to understand the intricacies of the hydro- the country will inevitably need to make a
logical interrelationships among countries. greater use of its waters, with significant
They need to be able to analyze the way in downstream impacts.
which dams and irrigation projects in up- Policy makers in Afghanistan and in the
stream countries impact water availability in region require a broad understanding of the
downstream countries, and how that might hydrological interconnections of the region’s
affect their ability to attain water, food, and shared water resources to use and manage
energy security. They also need to be aware them successfully to meet their development
of the impacts that climate change, popula- goals. The success of negotiations between
tion growth, and other factors might have on countries in the region over the allocation
future supply and demand for water. of shared water resources and their use for
This is clearly the situation in Afghanistan irrigation, flood/drought management and
and the Southwest Asian countries that energy generation will require increasing the
surround it: Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, capacity of decision-makers in Afghanistan
Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. A map of the and the region to understand and analyze the
Amu Darya, Kabul, Helmand, Harirud, hydrology of Afghanistan and its neighbor-
and Murghab river basins shows how the ing countries and the management of these
waters that emanate from Afghanistan are shared water resources.
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xvi FOREWORD TO TRANSBOUNDARY WATER RESOURCES IN AFGHANISTAN
This is why Transboundary Water Resources brought together in one volume his exten-
in Afghanistan, by John Shroder and Sher Jan sive knowledge and experience of the water
Ahmadzai, fills an important niche. By pro- resources of the region, as well as the views
viding a comprehensive and science-based and perspectives of various other special-
view of the interconnected water resources ists in the field. By helping policy makers in
of Afghanistan and its neighbors, the book this critically important region to advance
will equip policy makers and technical advi- water and food security, the book is a signif-
sors in the region with the tools they need icant contribution to the work and mission
to develop effective policies and interact co- of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food
operatively with the countries that share its Institute at the University of Nebraska,
water resources. The book provides a solid where Shroder and chapter author Patrick
introduction to the physical characteristics McNamara are Faculty Fellows. The insti-
of water, both in general and specifically in tute was established in 2010 to bring the
Afghanistan and its neighboring countries, best of the University’s expertise in water
as well as in-depth discussion of water man- and food to address the challenges of im-
agement issues in Central and South Asia proving water and food security across the
and a look at the future of water manage- globe. Working with Faculty Fellows like
ment in the region. The book also includes Shroder and McNamara and a global net-
chapters on such vital subjects as the charac- work of partners, our mission is to have
teristics and implications of climate change, a lasting and significant impact on food
hydrological data collection, and interna- and water security through research, en-
tional water law. gagement, communication, and education
John Shroder, Emeritus Professor of programs.
Geography and Geology at the University
of Nebraska at Omaha, has dedicated his Roberto L. Lenton
academic career to studying and analyzing Founding Executive Director
transboundary water negotiation issues Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food
between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and has Institute at the University of Nebraska
Preface
The 21st century is generally regarded by now we know this, and can better predict the
knowledgeable scientific and intelligence an- future, rather than allowing such an event of
alysts as a century of looming water issues disappearing water to be as much of a sur-
because of worldwide diminution of access prise as it was to the rulers in antiquity, when
to that essential resource as a result of bur- clearly they thought their gods must have
geoning human populations and resultant deserted them as the rains stopped and the
climate change. Afghanistan is at the top waters dried up. Of course, it is possible to
of the watershed, or the place from where live in a 9th-century fantasy world of antiq-
several major rivers (Amu Darya, Kabul, uity as many of the Taliban and ISIS jihadis
Helmand, Harirud, and Murghab rivers), would love to try to do as they promote their
emanate from their headwaters. These riv- particular warped barbarism, but the alterna-
ers flow over the international borders into tive in the modern world is the use of good
the surrounding countries in the north into science to try to overcome human-caused
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, in difficulties, rather than give in to some sup-
the northwest into Iran and Turkmenistan, posed “will of God.”
in the southwest into Iran, and in the south- In the situations outlined in this book,
east and east into Pakistan. These rivers have learning about the many variables in Central
been the foundations of millennia of human and Southwest Asia that affect, deliver, and
development in Asia. control water in all its forms and conditions,
In the ever-evolving world of international including human machinations, would seem
water law, it has been recognized in recent to have a high benefit to those who indulge
years that the lowland countries of the world in calculating all of its possible variations. It
were the places where humankind first be- is obvious that the study and understand-
gan its earliest irrigation schemes thousands ing of water delivery in Afghanistan and
of years ago. This resulted in the develop- its neighboring countries of Pakistan, Iran,
ment of extensive civilizations and expand- Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan
ing human populations in the lowlands, have much to recommend them. This will
who came to depend upon regular delivery help to bring up the capacity levels of under-
of waters unhindered and undammed from standings in the government and among ac-
the undeveloped uplands of places such as ademic water cognoscenti in Afghanistan to
Afghanistan. head off any possible confrontations later on
The importance of water in the modern with surrounding countries who may try to
or ancient worlds cannot be overstressed; take issue with Afghanistan on its use of its
if enough of the treasured resource was not waters. Local water law is always made by
available back in antiquity, then that partic- acquiescent governments who seek reciproc-
ular portion of civilization must ultimately ity when it is convenient to them, but ade-
collapse. Such has happened many times quate forewarning of coming changes does
before (Fagan, 2008; and many others). But help to protect against less desired climatic
xvii