Summary of Afghanistan’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan
A climate change action plan, sometimes referred to as an adaptation plan, is a plan for how an area plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change. These are often created by the regional government, such as a city, state or country, and lay out how the area will create institutions and policies to address climate change and its effects.
Background Info: What Are Climate Action Plans?
Climate action plans differ based on the governing body and how the country is contributing to or being affected by climate change.
In this article, we’ll take a look at Afghanistan’s climate action plan and goals.
Table of Contents
Afghanistan’s Climate Plan in Brief
Institutional Changes to Address Climate Change
Afghanistan’s Modern Climate Goals
Afghanistan’s Climate Plan in Brief
Afghanistan has long-term plans for its governance and infrastructure regarding climate change and carbon emissions. The move towards climate focused initiatives came in 2009, with the creation of Afghanistan’s National Adaptation Program of Action for Climate Change (NAPA), an UN initiative to have less developed countries create climate action plans. NAPA is the primary reason Afghanistan created its climate action plan, or the Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for Afghanistan (ACCSAP), in 2015.
Afghanistan’s 2015 climate change action plan is broad in scope, covering six critical areas to address climate change on both a national and local level. These “pillars” are:
- Agriculture
- Biodiversity
- Energy/Infrastructure
- Forests/Rangelands
- Natural Disasters
- Water
In order to execute these goals and reach lowered carbon emission criteria, Afghanistan’s climate plan starts at the federal level.
The main goals of Afghanistan’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan are to:
- Increase resilience and adaptation for climate change
- Integrate climate change policies into national law and regulation standards
- Increase awareness and education regarding climate change, including impact reduction and warning of climate change hazards
- Have $100 billion climate-ready funds by 2020, a goal which is dependent in great part on aid from international partners for furthering climate change research/preparation
Read the full plan: Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for Afghanistan (ACCSAP)
Key Pillars: Afghanistan’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan
Since climate change involves numerous aspects of Afghani life, culture, economics, and infrastructure, each pillar has its own unique plan and method of execution. A brief summary of each pillar is included below. Like NAPA, many of these plans were created in conjunction with a UN program.
Agriculture
Afghanistan’s National Agricultural Development Framework (NADF) was created in 2009 and worked to integrate climate-change sensitive policies in its planning.
The plan makes mention of emphasizing climate change goals at the community and local level, and promoting agricultural practices that are climate change resilient, such as crops which can resist drought and/or flooding.
In 2016, the government of Afghanistan published the National Comprehensive Agriculture Development Priority Program, which updates the framework for agricultural development and reform.
Biodiversity
In 2013, Afghanistan’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) was created with an emphasis on maintaining and preserving the wildlife of Afghanistan while pointing out the serious threats climate change presents to said biodiversity. However, the plan also points out that climate change planning is absent in older policies, and needs introduction into law to safeguard wildlife.
Energy and Infrastructure
Afghanistan has a strong emphasis on continued expanse and use of electric and hydroelectric power. In 2013, they developed the Rural Renewable Energy Policy (RREP) with the long term goal to replace carbon-heavy energy sources and reduce emissions. The plan hopes to place more reliance on hydropower as a source of energy. They continue to work towards efficient energy sources with a low carbon footprint.
Forests/Rangelands
Afghanistan’s National Forestry Management Policy (NFMP) was developed in 2012. The goal for forestry and rangelands, inclusive to climate change, is to both protect and conserve forestry while also respecting land rights/ownership. The policy also explains how climate change can impact this sector.
Natural Disasters
Climate change exacerbates any type of natural disaster, and especially creates critical problems like drought that impact Afghanistan at every level.
While Afghanistan has various institutions that focus on disaster preparation and relief, the Strategic National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction (SNAP) focuses on climate change based disasters. SNAP has two goals: to establish links between climate change disasters, and minimize the impacts and lloss caused by climate based disasters.
Water
Afghanistan uses the Water Sector Strategy to develop plans for the preservation of clean, usable, drinkable water in the face of climate change. The overall goal of the WSS is to ensure society can readily access water. The strategy acknowledges the serious complications and interference climate change can cause.
Institutional Changes to Address Climate Change
Afghanistan has also created numerous plans and frameworks to address climate change through changes in governance, the agricultural sector, and law.
Climate Advancements In Governance
All plans require planning and action from the government, where policies are created, applied, and enforced at the various pillars of society. Afghanistan, too, suffers from not only climate issues but geopolitical ones as well, having existed in a state of invasive conflict for at least three decades.
Afghanistan’s primary governing agency for climate change is the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). Afghani governance also includes “non-government stakeholders” as a fundamental aspect of combating climate change. Their aim is to raise civil awareness and education on climate change to aid in policy change. Proper representation of these groups is key to their plan. Additionally, climate action within academic institutions is vital for the future of combating climate change.
Climate Advancements In Agriculture
As discussed above, agriculture is a critical and vital aspect of Afghani society, important as both an economic and infrastructure pillar. Eighty percent of the population relies on farming for food and sustainability. As such, a vested interest to maintain the long-term health and integrity of agricultural regions is a key part of their climate plan.
The climate action plan also warns of long-term effects to nature, pests, and disease, which could create irreversible problems and make many farmlands no longer sustainable. Afghanistan hopes to create long-term and actionable change with the agricultural advancement plans described above.
Climate Advancements In Law
Afghanistan’s procedure for establishing climate-warming laws varies based on its area of focus. Those areas are agriculture, infrastructure/energy, ecosystem conservation, water management, natural disaster management, and biodiversity.
For example, in forestry, the presiding administration overseeing conservation and forests is Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL). Thus, each critical sector mentioned before maintains a regulatory body for the creation of policies and laws. Those policies and laws are designed to be enforced to maintain climate change goals.
However, some of these efforts are less defined and less effective than others. For example, the MAIL passed a law in 2012 called the Forest Law, which acknowledged that there is a difference between public and private forestland, but did not create definitions or define how far property rights extend.
Afghanistan’s Modern Climate Goals
Given that Afghanistan is another country experiencing the effects of climate change firsthand, they continuously fund and develop ways to mitigate the damage caused by warming.
The Afghani government has called on its own infrastructure and other international bodies to aid in raising funding to help develop energy and climate-conscious resolutions. For example, they aimed to raise $100 billion by 2020 for infrastructure and throughout the decade, while maintaining the climate action plan discussed above.
Afghanistan’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan lays out the country’s goals to adapt to and mitigate climate change. Learn about Afghanistan’s climate goals.