Photo/Illutration Tetsu Nakamura in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 2016 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Japanese physician Tetsu Nakamura, who headed a humanitarian aid organization in Afghanistan, was shot to death five years ago on Dec. 4.

When I first met him in 2002, he said, “Afghanistan is where all the woes of developing nations are concentrated.” He also noted that drought was at the root of poverty, armed conflict and refugee problems.

That was the year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, and the U.S.-led “war against terror” was the focus of global attention.

After American and British airstrikes in Afghanistan toppled the Taliban regime, a conference was held in Tokyo to aid Afghan reconstruction. I remember being taken completely by surprise when Dr. Nakamura started talking about drought amid forceful exchanges over issues of international politics.

Having opened a clinic in a remote mountain village of Afghanistan as a physician, Nakamura experienced the historic drought of 2000, and that became the cue for him to start digging wells. 

And, to stem desertification, he also built an intake weir and an irrigation canal that drew water from the Kunar River in eastern Afghanistan, reviving vegetation over about 16,500 hectares.

In his book titled “Afuganisutan no Shinryojo kara” (From a clinic in Afghanistan), Nakamura documented how nature irrigated farmlands in summer with melted snow from the Hindu Kush mountain range.

He observed: “Global warming was diminishing the snow every year, and desertification was in progress all over the land. ... Villages began to disappear, and farmers continued to turn into displaced persons.”

Inland mountainous regions are liable to be affected by climate change. And it is now strongly believed that water had something to do with why Nakamura was gunned down.

The theory is that he incurred the ire of people in other countries over the flow of river water across national borders.

Global warming is not being hampered, and the preciousness of water keeps growing. The water Nakamura brought to the arid land is still serving the locals.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 3

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture

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