Kabul – Afghanistan is among the world’s most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change. Nearly four decades of conflict have severely weakened the country’s institutions and destroyed its infrastructure, meaning that Afghanistan must urgently build its capacity to adapt to a changing climate.
To this end, Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) and UN Environment have researched and prepared a new publication, titled “Climate Change and Governance in Afghanistan,” that maps the country’s climate-related institutions, governance frameworks, and inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms. This publication provides a broad overview of the landscape of climate change governance in Afghanistan in order to identify current and future entry points for the further mainstreaming of climate change into the country’s development framework.
The urgency of mainstreaming climate change into Afghanistan’s development processes cannot be overstated. Afghanistan is already highly vulnerable to natural hazards, and a changing climate is likely to increase their impacts unless the country’s adaptive capacity is strengthened. Mainstreaming climate change into Afghanistan’s development processes is an essential step towards realizing that adaptive capacity.
Based on recent climate change projections developed jointly by NEPA and UN Environment, by 2100 the country will see a strong increase in mean annual temperature coupled with an overall decrease in water availability. These changes will have a myriad of impacts on Afghanistan’s diverse ecosystems, as well as the plants and animals that inhabit them.
Since 2002, UN Environment has supported the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to build its adaptive capacity to the adverse impacts of climate change. Across the country and at the national level, UN Environment and NEPA have worked closely to address climate change at both the policy and practical levels, including the development of the country’s most accurate and up-to-date climate change projections.
Executive Summary (Dari) | Full Report (EN)
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