Freshwater for the future
Project: Reviving ancient water traditions in the Koh-e Baba (Grandfather) Mountains “UNEP’s parallel development of policy and action for environmental management is a model for the government to follow. Community based approaches can be upscaled as part of the national development strategy throughout our programs in water, land, forests and medicinal plants.” Deputy Minister Ghuriani, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Afghanistan Photo: UNEP
Facing challenges Approximately 75 per cent of Afghanistan is vulnerable to desertification. After 30 years of conflict, much of its natural and cultural heritage is under threat. Virtually its entire supply of water for irrigation, drinking and the maintenance of wetland ecosystems is fed by rainfall and the seasonal melting of snow and ice-fields in Afghanistan’s Himalaya and Hindu Kush Mountains. But in the past 50 years, drought and rising air temperatures have shrunk larger glaciers by