Afghanistan

Afghanistan has long held an important geographic position, connecting both East and West Asia and the Middle East. Today, it boasts the third-lowest carbon dioxide emissions per capita in the world and it actively encourages its citizens to use land and crops more efficiently to combat global warming. The country’s first wind farm was inaugurated in 2008 while in 2005, the Asian Development Bank approved a $750,000-dollar grant to develop solar energy technology for use in rural areas. With about 300 days of sunshine per year, Afghanistan has great solar potential.

Agriculture

More than three decades of fighting and several periods of drought have created a large burden for the environment and biodiversity of Afghanistan's land. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the growth in the agriculture sector and improvement of the quality of living for the poor is being affected by the environmental degradation in the country. The people of Afghanistan have a strong relationship with the forests and the woodlands, important sources of firewood, construction materials, shelter and overall survival. With the degradation and loss of forests and vegetation, land productivity is decreasing and more people are immigrating to urban area searching for food and employment. "Long-term stability in Afghanistan will directly depend on the sustainable management of its natural resources,” says Peter Zahler, assistant director of the Asia Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in New York.

The Convention on Biological Diversity

The Convention on Biological Diversity was inspired by the world community's growing commitment to sustainable development. It represents a dramatic step forward in the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

The following discusses Afghanistan's plans for biodiversity nationwide:

Much of the information on Afghanistan’s biodiversity is old and no longer reliable. Little significant information has been added since the onset of war in 1978. The few recent investigations have suggested that Afghanistan’s biodiversity has suffered enormously in the last three decades. Afghanistan is comprised of 8 unique bio-geographical Provinces of which 7 belong to the Palaearctic Realm. Only a small area in the lower Kabul River Valley is of Indo-Malayan origin. A recent classification breaks Afghanistan down into 15 smaller eco-regions of which four are considered as critical/endangered, 8 as vulnerable and only two as relatively stable and intact.

Afghanistan was one of the most significant centres for the origin and development of humanity’s crop plants. Consequently, there are numerous local landraces of wheat and other crops in use by Afghan farmers. Nine local breeds of sheep are found in Afghanistan along with 8 breeds of cattle and 7 of goats.

Source: Convention on Biodiversity