AFGHANISTAN: Decades of conflict in Afghanistan have left the country on the brink of a natural disaster which will spiral out of control unless urgent action is taken, according to a United Nations study published yesterday.
Overflowing rubbish dumps, poisonous medical waste facilities, fetid open sewers, fume-belching factories and leaking oil refineries are all adding to the devastating affects of deforestation and desertification, the report has said.
In the first full environmental assessment of the country since the 2001 collapse of the hard-line Taliban regime ended 23 years of war, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) study called for international aid to prevent further destruction.
"Tragically the combined pressures of warfare, civil disorder, lack of governance and drought have taken a major toll on Afghanistan's natural and human resources," the report said.
"The significant lack of effective environmental management and the extensive environmental damage and degradation . . . is increasing human vulnerability to natural disasters." Unless immediate steps are taken, both by Afghanistan's new government and the global community, its population and precious wildlife will be poisoned and starved out, the internationally-funded study said. "Transforming Afghanistan into a prosperous, democratic and self-sustaining country cannot be achieved without the assistance of the international community," it said.
Years of fighting and drought have left the central Asian country heavily dependent on foreign help for reconstruction, a process which the UNEP said will flounder unless environmental concerns are addressed. "Over 80 percent of Afghan people live in rural areas, yet they have seen many of their basic resources - water for irrigation, trees for food and fuel - lost in just a generation," said UNEP executive director Mr Klaus Toepfer