Kabul – The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has officially launched two new projects focusing on biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of water resources in Afghanistan.
Over the coming year, UN Environment will work closely with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s Centre for Middle Eastern Plants (CMEP) to support biodiversity conservation and research in Afghanistan. This will include supporting ex-situ conservation through the reestablishment of Afghanistan’s National Botanic Garden, as well as the establishment of the Afghanistan Plant Portal to digitize data about Afghan plan species and build linkages with education and research institutions around the world.
In a separate project, UN Environment and the German NGO Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA) will collaborate to raise awareness and build capacity among government institutions and local communities on water resource management. A primary focus of this collaboration is on health and sanitation, and will involve the construction of three decentralized wastewater treatment (DEWATS) centers to demonstrate innovative approaches for the sustainable water resource management. In addition, comprehensive training and awareness-raising materials on water and sanitation will be developed and delivered to partners in government, civil society, and local communities in Kabul and Bamyan provinces.
Participants at the launch of the joint UN Environment-BORDA project on water resource management
Over the past 14 years, Afghanistan has made valuable progress in the conservation and protection of its environment. In June 2015, the country officially declared its third national park in the Shah Foladi region of the Central Highlands, which is home to an abundance of plant species and the origin of several of the country’s major rivers. Additional protected areas have been declared for the Band-e Amir lakes in the Central Highlands, as well as the Wakhan Corridor in the far northeast sandwiched between Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China.
For more information, please contact:
Sophie Brown, Communications Advisor, UN Environment Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch, sophie.brown[at]unep.org
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