Re: [GBlist] Afgreenistan

[Susannah <susannah@cyber-dyne.com>]

The reason we are at war in Afghanistan is that there are huge amounts of 
oil north of Afghanistan, in Central Asia, and we want a route to get that 
oil to ocean-going ships -- without going through Iran or Russia.  This is 
also why Russia was trying to take over Afghanistan in the '80s: to get a 
warm-water port there, and to get the oil out.  When I say "we" here, I 
mean the US government.  But it is also an opportunity for "we" 
green-oriented people to maybe do a little bit for the people of 
Afghanistan (I hope so).

***
Here are some people who have the expertise to get village-scale solar 
technology to Afghanistan.  Perhaps they are already doing so; I don't 
know.  They've done other projects in Central Asia, and around the 
world.  They are very nice people, and probably happy to accept donations 
of time or money.

Solar Electric Light Fund:   http://www.self.org/

And signs of hope from  http://www.newscientist.com/news  :

                    Afghanistan to be rebuilt from bottom up

                     17:06 21 January 02
                     Fred Pearce

                     An unprecedented experiment in creating a nation from the
                     bottom up is about to begin in Afghanistan. A $15-billion
                     reconstruction programme, unveiled as donor nations 
pledged
                     an initial $3 billion at a meeting in Tokyo on Monday, 
calls for a
                     small-is-beautiful strategy.

                     Instead of massive national projects, the initial 
approach will be
                     based on villages organising themselves to install 
solar panels
                     and small hydroelectricity schemes, to rehabilitate 
wrecked
                     irrigation canals and rebuild local roads.

                     The programme has been drawn up by the World Bank, UN
                     Development Programme, Asian Development Bank and the
                     interim Afghan government. Twenty years of war, it 
says, have
                     left Afghanistan ravaged, with few services and no central
                     administration equipped to provide them.

                     Less than a quarter of Afghans have access to clean water.
                     Only six in a hundred have access to electricity and 
only two
                     people in a thousand have phones. In cities, a quarter 
of houses
                     have been seriously damaged or destroyed by war, and 
half the
                     drains are broken.

                     Food production is also in trouble. Since the Taliban 
came to
                     power in 1996, the area of irrigated cropland has 
declined by
                     two-thirds. Three years of drought have reduced the 
national
                     animal herd by 40 per cent.


                     Return to the fields

                     However, the report sees no immediate prospect of 
setting up
                     national infrastructure, such as an electricity grid. 
It calls
                     instead for "community and small-scale private 
approaches to
                     electrification", including village-managed 
hydroelectricity.

                     The report also says that "village water and 
sanitation should
                     continue to be provided by communities themselves". It 
says
                     local enterprise will be necessary to rebuild roads.

                     While media attention has so far been focused on the 
state of
                     the cities, 85 per cent of the population lives in the 
countryside.
                     On Monday, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said:
                     "the shortest path to national stability will be for 
the rural
                     population to return to their fields and produce the 
nation's
                     food".


                     Political structures

                     The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based research
                     organisation, said recently: "Identifying local powers 
as possible
                     partners for development work should be a key priority."

                     Some ministers in the Afghan interim government are 
known to
                     be keen on this village-based approach, too. One is Ishaq
                     Shahryar, who became a pioneer of solar energy in the 
US after
                     emigrating from Afghanistan more than 40 years ago, and is
                     now Afghan transport minister.

                     In 2001, before his appointment, he called for the 
creation of
                     "model villages" in a post-war Afghanistan, powered by 
solar
                     energy and with schools and medical centres wired to the
                     internet. "Here's a country that is destroyed and 
ground into the
                     mud. To go back and rebuild it, my God, what a sense of
                     opportunity," he said.

                     17:06 21 January 02


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