8am: Several environmental and agricultural experts have expressed concern over the increase in deforestation in Afghanistan due to poverty, lack of awareness, and the dependency of the population on natural resources. They say that the unchecked increase in tree cutting in recent years has posed a serious threat to the country’s forest cover and will
The Guardian (UK): Afghanistan has always been prone to natural disasters. Among low-income nations, it ranked second in the number of deaths caused by them between 1980 and 2015, according to one report. However, the frequency and extremity of disasters such as flash flooding is on the rise, and climate breakdown is not solely responsible
Arab News: There are reports that the revenues from mines, besides helping the Taliban run its government machinery, are also partially being channeled into the private pockets of some of the Taliban leaders. If true, this could be another chapter in the long history of thefts of the national assets of Afghanistan. Another example is
Reuters: Large-scale deforestation driven mainly by four decades of war has contributed to widespread flooding throughout Afghanistan, prompting many in rural areas to move to the capital Kabul or leave the country. Click here to read more (external link). Related Charikar flood survivors mourn dead as Afghanistan grows increasingly vulnerable to climate change
FP: Wood smuggling is big business for the terrorist group. Small numbers of fighters for the Islamic State of Khorasan Province, the Afghan branch of the militant group, have been in Kunar since 2015. But the group’s new stronghold is in Kunar’s deep forests, inheriting a booming wood industry previously controlled by the Taliban that is now
Al Jazeera: Years of war and fighting have had a devastating effect on forests. Many were destroyed, and Afghan authorities caught up in fighting did not see the disappearing forests as a priority. Meanwhile, by 2013, at least half of Afghanistan’s forests had disappeared. Timber trade has become a profitable business. In the eastern provinces, local people and armed