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Despite the importance of water management in Islamic culture, the role of religion has been underemphasized by scholars. Using the three criteria of equity, responsibility and sustainability, this study aims to assess whether Islamic water management principles are incorporated into the revision of the transboundary Helmand River Basin under the administration of the Taliban regime. In August 2021, Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, with a goal of ruling Afghanistan based on Islamic Sharia law, presumably including the management of the transboundary watercourses. One such basin is the Helmand, shared with the downstream Islamic Republic of Iran, with whom Afghanistan will likely revisit the transboundary Helmand River Treaty, possibly based on Islamic water management principles. We examine how principles of Islamic code may influence future negotiations, including the construction of dams on the upper Helmand River Basin initiated under the former administration.

The Aral Sea catastrophe profoundly worsened the socio-economic, environmental and health conditions of the local communities in Central Asia. This research paper is based on quantitative approach. The three indicators of climate change temperature, relative humidity and precipitation were used to assess if climate change was one of the main contributors to the shrinkage of Aral Sea. The initial data were retrieved from Global Weather Data SWAT. The paper has analyzed the aforementioned indicators of climate change from January 01st, 1979 to July 05th, 2014 using Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System model. The paper has found out that the discharge of Amu Darya River Basin at the inlet of Aral Sea Basin in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous Republic located in Uzbekistan, has sharply declined. A maximum peak flow happened at the inlet of Aral Sea in Karakalpakstan on May 25th, 1988. Since then, the inflow at the Aral Sea Basin in Karakalpakstan was sharply declined due to the drastic climate change in the region. The author believes that the outcome of the research paper will support policy makers of Central Asian states as well as other stakeholders to take measurable steps in addressing the issue of Aral Sea crisis.

The rapid increase in population along with the economic activities led to rapid depletion of natural resources. Land use studies help us analyze the impacts of urban development on environment. Given the political upheavals in Afghanistan, this study aims to analyze how urban development evolved from 1978 to 2018 in six major cities- Kabul, Kandahar, Kunduz, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif and Jalalabad- in Afghanistan using Landsat Satellite Images. This study is based on quantitative approach. ArcGIS 9.4 software was used to synchronize the Landsat Satellite Images within the area of study. The results of the study show that the Annual rate of urban land expansion in Afghanistan was the lowest (average 1.07 square kilometers per year) during the military presence of Soviet Union in Afghanistan while it was the highest (3.35 square kilometers per year) from 2001 to 2018 due to the military presence of US-led NATO forces, relative security and rapid economic activities in Afghanistan. The authors believe that this study could be further explored if other inter-connected factors, e.g., the role of culture, literacy, immigration etc., are incorporated into the study of urban development processes in Afghanistan.

The paper has applied Food–Energy–Water (FEW) nexus in the Kootenai River Basin—a basin located in greater Columbia River Basin shared by Canada and USA—to explore how the institutional, stakeholders, and environmental aspects are represented within the basin. Despite the wide application of FEW nexus, the authors argue that the nexus concept has failed to capture the social dimension such as emotions within the basin. Furthermore, although the FEW nexus is a broader concept encompassing a wide range of actors, the FEW concept was unsuccessful in integrating indigenous and tribal communities into the nexus framework. Finally, the authors assert that FEW nexus should be further explored to incorporate social and environmental dimensions such as the role of various stakeholders, e.g., tribal communities, fishery, and biodiversity, into the nexus framework in the Kootenai River Basin.