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

Transboundary Water from Afghanistan: Climate Change, and Land-Use Implications brings together diverse factual material on the physical geography and political, cultural, and economic implications of Southwest Asian transboundary water resources. It is the outgrowth of long-term deep knowledge and experience gained by the authors, as well as the material developed from a series of new workshops funded by the Lounsbery Foundation and other granting agencies.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have high altitude mountains providing vital water supplies that are highly contentious necessities much threatened by climate change, human land-use variation, and political manipulation, which can be managed in new ways that are in need of comprehensive discussions and negotiations between all the riparian nations of the Indus watershed (Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan). This book provides a description of the basic topographic configuration of the Kabul River tributary to the Indus river, together will all its tributaries that flow back and forth across the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the basic elements that are involved with the hydrological cycle and its derivatives in the high mountains of the Hindu Kush and Himalaya.

Synthesizes information on the physical geography and political, cultural, and economic implications of Southwest Asian transboundary water resourcesOffers a basic topographic description of the Indus River watershedProvides local water management information not easily available for remote and contentious border areasDelivers access to the newest thinking from chief personnel on both sides of the contentious borderFeatures material developed from a series of new workshops funded by the Lounsbery Foundation and other granting agencies

Foreword

Introduction

Characteristics of the General Hydrological Cycle

Surface and Ground-Water Hydrology in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Afghanistan and Pakistan Drainage Characteristics and Sediment Transport

Afghanistan and Pakistan Government Water Management

Data Collection Measurement of Hydrologic Parameters in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Characteristics & Implications of Climate Change in Mountains & Lowlands

H2O Hazards, Risks, and Disasters in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Practicalities and Mythologies of Water Management in Southwest Asia

New Irrigation Strategies to Save Water

Equitable Division and Apportionment of Transboundary Water Resources: Problems and Possibilities

Strategic/Security Environments Related to Water Issues in Afghanistan-Pakistan

The Future of Water Management in Southwest Asia

References