capacity building and institutional development programme

Capacity Building and Institutional Development Programme

for Environmental Management in Afghanistan

Progress Report

January - June 2007

UNEP Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch

Kabul, August 2007

A project funded by the European Commission, the Government of Finland and the Global Environment Facility (GEF)

Capacity Building and Institutional Development for Environmental Management in Afghanistan Progress Report January – June 2007 2/23

Executive Summary

The highlights and major outputs of the period January - June 2007 are summarized below.

• Environmental Coordination: UNEP in coordination with NEPA continues to provide vital support to the integration of environmental considerations into the Government of Afghanistan’s National Development Strategy (ANDS), which is also Afghanistan’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). UNEP supported NEPA to develop its strategy and to review ministerial strategies from other ministries from an environmental perspective. With the support from UNEP, NEPA established the Inter-ministerial Committee for Environment Coordination (CEC), the first meeting of which was held in May 2007. The establishment of the CEC is mandated by the Environment Law.

• Institutional reform and restructuring: The recruitment of staff under the Priority Reform and Restructuring structure continued and by June 2007 the central level positions are all filled with the exception of only 5 positions and 80 % of the positions at the provincial level have also been filled. Staff recruited under the PRR receive PRR salaries. NEPA was allocated a development budget by the Ministry of Finance for the year 1386 (March 2007-March 2008) for the first time since its establishment.

• Environment Law: Draft EIA and Protected Area Regulations were resubmitted to the Ministry of Justice for processing. After an extensive public consultation process on the draft Forest Law comments from the three layers of stakeholders (community, national and international) were integrated and the revised technical draft was submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture for internal approval prior to its submission to the Ministry of Justice for processing. UNEP, working in cooperation with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), developed the first technical draft of the Rangeland Law. The draft has been translated into Dari and submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture for its comments and input. Once comments have been received, the draft will be circulated amongst a limited group of relevant stakeholders for their comment based on their field-level experiences and lessons learnt.

• Environmental Impact Assessment: The EIA national policy was finalized in both English and Dari and is currently with NEPA awaiting formal issuing in terms of an executive order. A set of EIA administrative guidelines were developed, which will act as an application and interpretation guide to the EIA Regulations and the EIA policy. In regard to pollution control, the report on the determination of waste streams in Afghanistan was finalized.


• Multilateral Environmental Agreements: UNEP worked closely with the Ministry of Agriculture to finalize Afghanistan’s Third National Report under the UNCBD. A proposal for funding for the development of Afghanistan’s Initial National Communication under UNFCCC has been finalized and submitted to the GEF. The documents entitled “A biodiversity profile of Afghanistan in 2006” and “A Proposed action plan for the conservation of Afghanistan’s biodiversity and Wetlands” were translated into Dari.

• Afghanistan-Iran Dialogue on Sistan Basin Wetlands: The special Task Force Meeting on the establishment of a Joint Committee on the Sistan Basin Wetlands took place May 2007 in Tehran and reviewed the proposed draft terms of reference of the committee. The opportunity was also used to discuss the status and way forward with regard to the GEF Sistan project, as well as to provide an update on the development of a monitoring system for the Sistan basin wetlands.

• Community-based Natural Resources Management: Successful implementation and funding disbursement for the initial set of CBNRM projects was completed in Herat, Badakhshan and Bamyan.

• Environmental Policy and Monitoring: Key aspects of the environmental policy and monitoring components were completed including drafts of guidelines for the State of Environment report, National Environmental Policy development and establishment of a framework for environmental data collection. Five senior officials from NEPA participated in a training course held in Bangkok and Kathmandu on environmental management and governance in mountainous countries.

• Environmental Education: UNEP supported the development and production of public information publications related to Band-e-Amir, environmental health and NEPA.

• World Environment Day: UNEP and NEPA’s main WED celebration event took place in Kabul that focussed on children. The event involved around 200 students from five schools in Kabul, selected in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. A group of 20 8th grade students debated on the topic “What does Afghanistan need, rapid development or environment?” The debate was followed by a slide show taking the audience through a photographical journey of Afghanistan’s natural environment. Representatives of the Parliamentary Environment Commission attended the event and actively followed the debate. In addition NEPA, UNEP, UNDP, ACC and other partner organizations organized events in several locations in Afghanistan to raise awareness on environmental topics and to demonstrate the growing cooperation for the management and protection of Afghanistan’s environment.


• Programme Extension: In 2006 the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) expressed the need for an extension of the UNEP Capacity Building and Institutional Development Programme from 2007-20010. UNEP in cooperation with the European Commission developed a comprehensive project proposal to extend the programme into a third phase running until end 2010.

Overview on the estimated percentage of completion of the planned activities as per June 2007

The following graphic illustrates the estimated percentage of completion of the planned activities per component as outlined in the contract with the EC as per June 2007. A detailed account is given in the annual reports. *

Estimated completion per component as per June 2007 in percent

100

78

54

70

90

43

20

56

42

68

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Preparation (Com. 0)

Env. Coordination (Com. 1)

Inst. Restructuring (Com. 2)

EIA (Com. 3)

Env. Law (Com. 4)

CBNRM (Com. 5)

Env. Policy & Planning (Com. 6)

Monitoring, Analysis (Com. 7)

Env. Education (Com. 8)

MEAs (Com. 9)

* The bar chart the percentage of estimated completion per component against the original set of activities that included many PRR-related activities that have been abandoned because of the nature and pace of the PRR process. Furthermore during the implementation some additional activities have been implemented. The bar chart does not take into account additional implemented activities and attributes 0% estimated completion for activities that were abandoned. Estimated completion percentages would rise significantly if account is taken of the changes during implementation.


Table of Contents

Executive Summary........................................................................................................ 2 Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... 5 1 Introduction............................................................................................................ 6

Background.............................................................................................................. 6 The Afghanistan context in the first half of 2007...................................................... 6

2 Preparatory Activities and Staff Recruitment (Component 0) ........................... 8 Human Resources ................................................................................................... 8 Office Space / Equipment ........................................................................................ 8

3 Environmental Coordination (Component 1) ...................................................... 8 4 Institutional Restructuring (Component 2)........................................................ 10 5 Environmental Impact Assessment (Component 3)......................................... 11 6 Environmental Law (Component 4).................................................................... 12 7 Community-based Natural Resources Management (Component 5) ............ 14

Pilot Project Implementation .................................................................................. 14 8 Environment Policy and Planning (Component 6) and Monitoring,

Information and Analysis (Component 7).......................................................... 15 9 Environment Education: Communication, Outreach and Education

(Component 8)...................................................................................................... 16 Publications, awareness material and events........................................................ 16 WED Celebrations 2007 ........................................................................................ 17

10 Multilateral environmental agreements (Component 9)................................... 18 MEA Obligations and applications for financial and technical assistance.............. 18 NCSA and NAPA ................................................................................................... 19 Accession to new Conventions .............................................................................. 20 Vienna Convention, Montreal Protocol and National Ozone Unit (NOU)............... 20 Afghanistan – Iran Dialogue on Sistan Basin Wetlands......................................... 22

11 Inter-agency cooperation.................................................................................... 22 12 Concluding Remarks........................................................................................... 23

Contact:

Dr. Asif Zaidi Programme Manager United Nations Environment Programme Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch National Environmental Protection Agency Darulaman Kabul, Afghanistan Tel 1: + 93 799.325.678 Tel 2: + 93 700.276.431 Email: [email protected]

David Jensen Project Coordinator United Nations Environment Programme Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch International Environment House Geneva, Switzerland Tel. +41 22 917 8167 Fax. +41 22 917 8064 Email: [email protected] Web http://postconflict.unep.ch


1 Introduction

Background

The primary aim of UNEP’s Capacity Building and Institutional Development Programme for Environmental Management in Afghanistan is to strengthen the technical capacity of the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) to implement the government’s environmental mandate. It comprises nine components:

1) Coordination: Support to the Advisory Group on Environment;

2) Institutional restructuring and human resources development;

3) Environmental impact assessment;

4) Environmental legislation, regulation and standards;

5) Sub-national environmental affairs and community-based natural resource management;

6) Environmental policy and planning;

7) Monitoring, information, analysis and reporting;

8) Communications, outreach and education;

9) Regional and international environmental cooperation including multi-lateral environmental agreements

The programme is being implemented by UNEP in two phases during the period October 2003 to December 2007 (1 year no-cost extension for 2007) with support and funding from the European Commission, the Government of Finland and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The present half-year report is the seventh progress report prepared by UNEP and outlines the progress made from January to June 2007. UNEP’s annual progress reports provide detailed account of all activities as per the donor contract, the half-year report provides a summary narrative.

The Afghanistan context in the first half of 2007

The fourth meeting of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB), the high level body overseeing the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact was held in Berlin, Germany, in late January 2007. The meeting, attended by twenty-three countries and international institutions, agreed to step-up efforts to build Afghan ownership of security and socio-economic recovery. The meeting saw new initiatives aimed at addressing the evolving challenges relating to insecurity, poverty, human rights, and Afghanistan’s political environment. Prominent among these new initiatives were Afghan proposals for accelerated Afghanization of the national army and police, as well as in the area of economic development. Other initiatives included improved capacity development for service delivery in the provinces, redoubled employment generation and alternative livelihood efforts, new momentum in reforms at the Ministry of Interior, enhanced aid effectiveness in line with Afghan priorities, strengthening


electoral preparations in a time-bound manner, and intensified efforts to address the wider regional dimensions of Afghanistan’s conflict.

On March 23 2007 the Security Council of the United Nations extended UNAMA’s mandate for a further 12 months stressing the importance of UNAMA's continued role in promoting a more coherent international engagement in Afghanistan; outreach to the provinces; supporting regional cooperation in the context of the Afghanistan Compact; promoting humanitarian coordination; and the monitoring of the situation of civilians affected by armed conflict.

The security situation over the reporting period deteriorated, with increased armed attacks by the Anti Government Elements (AGE) against the international and national Security Forces in the Southern, South-Eastern and Eastern regions. It appears that the AGE’s new strategy is to go for soft targets like the national security agencies and to use suicidal attacks and kidnappings as the dominant methodologies.

Military actions by the Coalition Forces involving the death of civilians resulted in widespread media attention and negative perceptions by the local population drawing public criticism of the Coalition Forces’ tactics from the Afghan President.

In May a top military commander of the Taliban, Mullah Dadullah, was killed by Coalition Forces in southern Afghanistan. Mullah Dadulla’s death was considered to be a significant blow to the Taliban as he was both a charismatic leader and a key operational planner for the organization as well as one of the few Taliban leaders to be known internationally. However the Taliban quickly named his brother to take his place, stating Dadullah’s death would not weaken the organization.

Several abductions and hostage takings took place during the reporting period. Although this is not a new phenomenon in Afghanistan, the spate of incidents where internationals have been seized for the purpose of exchanging hostages for the release of anti government elements detained by the Government is a development that threatens all internationals working in the country.

The deportation of illegal Afghan economic migrants from Iran received tremendous attention on the part of the government, international community, including UN, and media.

In April, the position of Deputy-Director General (Technical) was finally filled after almost a year. Mr. Dad Mohammad Baheer, the new DDG, comes with extensive experience of work with Care International. NEPA also received the support of a new Senior Advisor funded by the US Embassy.

During the reporting period UNEP focused its support to NEPA on the development of subsidiary legislation to the Environment Law and to continued to provide support to policy development and the integration of environmental considerations into the Government of Afghanistan's National Development Strategy.


The progress made by the UNEP Capacity Building and Institution Development Programme for Environmental Management in Afghanistan should be considered against the above context.

2 Preparatory Activities and Staff Recruitment (Component 0)

The objective of Component 0 was to undertake a series of preparatory activities that will provide the necessary human and material infrastructure for the initiation and smooth implementation of the programme. These preparatory activities included staff-recruitment, programme planning, programme administration and procurement of office space and equipment.

Human Resources

During the reporting period the staffing of the UNEP office remained stable though at low level. UNEP will recruit an additional translator as soon as possible.

Belinda Bowling, UNEP’s Environmental Law and International Conventions Expert participated in a Security Awareness Induction Training organized by IOM in cooperation with the Jordanian military, from 13 – 17 May 2007 in Amman / Jordan.

The National Ozone Unit hired Mr. Noor Agha in May 2007, replacing Mr. Hezbollah, as Coordinator for the Project Management Unit established in August 2006 for the Implementation of Afghanistan’s National ODS Phase Out Plan. A new IT Coordinator, Mr. Abdullah Hashim, joint the NOU in January 2007, replacing the former IT coordinator.

Office Space / Equipment

No significant changes have occurred during the reporting period.

3 Environmental Coordination (Component 1)

Objectives under component 1 are to facilitate consultation, coordination, cooperation and mainstreaming of environmental issues and projects within the National Development Framework (NDF) through training and technical support to the Advisory Group on the Environment (AGE).

The international community is investing in development programmes and infrastructure projects in Afghanistan. To coordinate development planning, a Consultative Group (CG) mechanism was established in 2003/ 2004 to develop public investment programmes in 16 different development sectors in accordance with the goals of the National Development Framework.

During 2005 the Interim- Afghanistan National Development Strategy (I-ANDS) has replaced the NDF as the Government of Afghanistan’s overarching strategy for


promoting growth, generating wealth and reducing poverty and vulnerability providing the framework for the development of Government policies, and guide the allocation of resources and programmes towards these goals. The Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) will be finalized in early 2008 and will also constitute Afghanistan’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).

In January 2006, succeeding the Bonn Agreement, the Government of Afghanistan, the United Nations and the international community agreed to the Afghanistan Compact representing the framework for co-operation until 2011. The Afghanistan Compact reflects Afghanistan’s Millennium Development Goals, as does the Interim-Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS).

Strategic coordination of the Afghanistan Compact and the (I-) ANDS is taking place on a sector-by-sector basis through an amended CG mechanism. There are now 8 sector CGs, and 2 umbrella CGs (dealing with poverty reduction and aid effectiveness). A Natural Resources and Environment working group (WG3.6) exists in the CG dealing with Infrastructure and Natural Resources (CG3). There are also five Cross Cutting Consultative Groups (CCCGs), of which environment is one.

UNEP is an active member of the Environment Working Group (E-WG) and the Environment Cross Cutting Consultative Group (E-CCCG), both of which are chaired by NEPA. UNEP is providing continuous support to NEPA to fulfill its responsibilities towards E-WG and E-CCCG and towards providing its input to the ANDS process, such as monitoring and documenting its progress towards achieving the Environment Benchmark of the Afghanistan Compact.

During the reporting period UNEP supported NEPA to develop its own strategy, and to review and comment on the draft strategies developed by other Ministries from an environmental perspective. UNEP and NEPA also started the development of a National Environment Strategy, emphasizing to the ANDS secretariat, that environment can not be dealt with as a separate sector, but must be mainstreamed into all sector strategies, taking into account its cross-cutting nature.

As can be seen from the above outlined developments and changes in the CG mechanism, the role of the former Advisory Group on Environment (AGE) has been taken on partly by the Environment CCCG (mainstreaming) and partly by the Environment Working Group (sectoral coordination).

As per the requirement of Afghanistan’s Environment Law, NEPA established and is chairing the Inter-ministerial Committee for Environment Coordination (CEC), which focuses on NEPA’s mandate, scope and outputs. The inaugural meeting of the CEC was held on 22 May 2007 and the environmental coordination function of the former AGE has been taken over by the CEC.


4 Institutional Restructuring (Component 2) Objectives under component 2 are to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the National Environmental Protection Agency, by supporting NEPA through the processes of the Civil Service Reform Commission.

NEPA’s Priority Reform and Restructuring (PRR) plan was approved by the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission (IARCSC) in August 2005. Throughout 2006 and until now the advertisement of positions and the subsequent recruitment proceeded at a slow but steady pace. By June 2007 the central level positions are all filled with the exception of only 5 positions and 80 % of the positions at the provincial level have been filled. Staff recruited under the PRR receive PRR salaries.

In April, the key position of Deputy-Director General (Technical) was finally filled after almost a year. Mr. Dad Mohammad Baheer, the new DDG, comes with extensive experience of work with Care International. NEPA also received the support of a new Senior Advisor funded by the US Embassy.

In addition to the operational budget, a development budget was allocated to NEPA by the Ministry of Finance for the year 1386 (March 2007-March 2008) for the first time since its establishment.

Deputy DG (DDG)

Technical Deputy Director General (TDDG)

Division for Implementation

and Enforcement

Division for Natural Heritage

Protection

Div. for Env. Management &

Sustainable Dev.

Division for Human Resources and

Finance

Office of the TDDG

Office of the Director General

Eminent Persons Council

Inter-ministerial Committee for Environmental Coordination (CEC)

National Environmental Advisory Council (NEAC)

Provincial Coordination Unit

Director General (DG)

Division for Research, Policy and Information

Division for Int’l Environmental

Affairs

Structure of the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) Central Level


5 Environmental Impact Assessment (Component 3)

Objectives under component 3 are to contribute to the institutionalization of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) through training and technical support in the development and effective implementation of environmental impact assessment guidelines, policies, procedures and legislation.

During the reporting period, the EIA Expert international position remained unfilled. However, the services of the former EIA Expert were engaged on a short-term consultancy basis to bridge this recruitment gap.

The EIA national policy was finalized in both English and Dari during the reporting period. It is currently with NEPA awaiting formal issuing in terms of an executive order. A set of EIA administrative guidelines were developed, which will act as an application and interpretation guide to the EIA Regulations and the EIA policy. These guidelines have also been translated into Dari.

In regard to pollution control, the report on the determination of waste streams in Afghanistan was finalized. The report is the outcome of 2 in-country missions undertaken by a Finnish pollution control expert. It is a further step towards the development of an integrated holistic pollution control framework for Afghanistan.

UNEP has provided demand driven technical advice to NEPA and donors and implementing agencies, as and when required. This has included the Kunduz and Amu Darya River Basin Projects, both of which are also funded by the EC.


6 Environmental Law (Component 4)

UNEP’s objectives under component 4 are to contribute to the development and effective implementation of an integrated environmental legal and regulatory framework through training and capacity building to NEPA and relevant line ministries; and technical support in relation to legal and legislative reform.

In March 2007, the National Assembly-approved version of the Environment Law was published in the Official Gazette (No. 912 dated 25 January 2007). From a legislative perspective, no further approvals of any sort are required henceforth.

Certain amendments were made to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) regulations, the technical text of which is now finalized. Both these regulations and the protected areas regulations were resubmitted to the Ministry of Justice for processing. Delays have however occurred as a result of the Ministry’s unwillingness to process the regulations; indeed, any regulations (whether in the environment or any other sector). Instead the Ministry refers draft regulations back to the line Ministry with a recommendation that they be reformulated into procedures, which is an Afghan legislative instrument that requires neither Ministry of Justice nor Council of Ministers approval, but which is of questionable legislative force. Protracted negotiations aimed towards resolving this issue have been successful, and the Ministry of Justice has now agreed to process both sets of regulations in their original format.

In the period October 2006 to February 2007 an extensive public consultation process on the draft Forest Law was undertaken. During March, the comments from the three layers of stakeholders (community, national and international) were synthesized and translated into English or Dari, as the case may be. Thereafter the final technical draft of the Forest Law was developed in both English and Dari, and submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture for internal approval prior to its submission to the Ministry of Justice for processing. The latter occurred at the end of the reporting period. Before the draft legislation becomes law, it will need to be approved by the Ministry of Justice, Council of Ministers and both the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament.

UNEP, working in cooperation with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), developed the first technical draft of the Rangeland Law. This was done further to extensive background research and consultation with stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and international agencies implementing land, community-based natural resource management and rangeland projects at the field level. The draft has been translated into Dari and submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture for its comments and input. Once that is received, the draft will be circulated amongst a limited group of relevant stakeholders for their comment based on their field-level experiences and lessons learnt.


A further two meetings of the Informal Rangeland Coordination Group, which was constituted by UNEP in 2006, were held during the reporting period on the initiative of UNEP.

Impressions of the training workshop on the draft Forest Law for trainers who undertook the public consultation process: opening by the Minister of Agriculture, presentations, working group discussions and presentations by participants.


7 Community-based Natural Resources Management (Component 5)

Objectives under component 5 are to contribute to re-establishing linkages between national, provincial and district levels of government through training and technical support, and through the implementation of pilot projects that encourage community-based resource management.

For the purpose of demonstrating the wide scope of possibilities encapsulated in community-based projects, UNEP's CBNRM strategy is to implement projects that are diverse in regard to their location, ecological area and ethno-linguistic background.

During the January-June 2007 time period, the CBNRM component has been active in the areas of direct project implementation.

Pilot Project Implementation

The implementation of the six pilot CBNRM projects in four communities in Herat was completed during this reporting period. Over 2,000 m2 of traditional, underground irrigation (kareze) was rehabilitated to deliver water to 7,500 saplings planted in newly established fruit and nut orchards. Additional irrigation features including water holding ponds, gabion and retention walls and drip irrigation were also constructed. Community maintenance of the saplings was initiated and subsequent monitoring visits over the next reporting period will document management of the irrigation infrastructure and orchards by the respective communities.

Solar electrification project in a village in Bamiyan province.


Two solar electrification projects, one in Bamiyan and one in Badakshan, were completed during this reporting period. Husband and wife teams from each village were initially selected to attend the six-month training at Barefoot College, Tilonia, India. However, the Government of India only issued visas to the couple from Badakshan and the husband from the Bamiyan village, citing the young age of the Bamiyan couple’s child as the reason for not granting entry to the wife.

Solar panels were installed on 40 homes in each village. Prior to the installation, each community constructed a workshop to house four solar panels and associated batteries and equipment necessary to install and, when necessary, repair the solar panels. Per the agreement that each community signed with Norwegian Church Aid, the NGO that designed this solar panel and training package with Barefoot College, each household will contribute 100 Afs per month towards the salary of the community engineers. While the salary will cover the labour and maintenance costs of the engineers, each household is responsible for the materials costs for repairs.

Norwegian Church Aid will work with UNEP and local NGO partners in Bamiyan and Badakshan to monitor any changes in natural resources use, household use of income and other social impacts.

8 Environment Policy and Planning (Component 6) and Monitoring, Information and Analysis (Component 7)

Sound environment policy decision-making and reliable policy analysis process depends on the quality scientific environment information collected from reliable environmental monitoring systems. Capacity building in the area of environment information analysis and scientific base for policy formulation is the key towards the sustainable use of environment resources and sustainable development of the country.

The UNEP Regional Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP) has undertaken the responsibility of implementing the component 6 and 7. The main objectives include: (a) facilitating state of the environment reporting through training and technical support in the development of tools and standards for environmental information collection, sharing, management, analyses and reporting; and (b) contributing to the development of national environmental policy through training and technical support in the development of a national environmental action plan, and mechanisms for inter-ministerial policy development and implementation.

Draft versions of the following documents were produced in this reporting period:

• Guidelines for an environmental database framework

• State of Environment guidelines

• Guidelines for developing a National Environmental Policy

• Training manual on drafting a National Environmental Policy


RRC.AP organized a training and study mission to Bangkok and Kathmandu for five senior NEPA officials to attend short courses and participate in site visits to research centers, national parks and Government environmental counterparts to learn about environmental management and governance in these regional countries.

The GIS lab was installed in NEPA and the relevant GIS staff will receive training and assistance from local partners, such as Wildlife Conservation Society, as well as from the UNEP Geneva office.

Additional environmental books written in Persian have been sourced by RRC.AP for delivery during the next reporting period.

9 Environment Education: Communication, Outreach and Education (Component 8)

Component 8 supports the institutional strengthening of the government by introducing awareness campaigns, environmental education, environmental reporting and opportunities for participation in environmental decision-making to Afghan citizens.

UNEP’s strategy addresses the lack of environmental awareness within Afghanistan by providing opportunities for stakeholders to acquire knowledge, skills, understanding and ability to incorporate environmental practices into management, protection, education and daily life. The activities comprising the strategy are intended to be mutually reinforcing to meet the various needs of developing environmentally aware and active citizens, government and other stakeholders.

Publications, awareness material and events

Illustrations for environmental education posters for both primary and secondary levels and a primary-level environmental education storybook were completed during this reporting period. The production and distribution of the posters and story book will be completed during the next reporting period.

UNEP contributed funding to the publication of awareness and informational posters and brochures for Band-e-Amir produced by the Afghan Conservation Corps (ACC)/UNOPS. UNEP and ACC are members of the Band-e-Amir Coordinating Committee, led by the Wildlife Conservation Society, to support MoAIL and NEPA in designating Band-e-Amir as Afghanistan’s first National Park.

UNEP provided editing assistance, resource materials, and photographs from the Environmental Photojournalism course and financial assistance to the Environmental Health edition of Salamati magazine, a public health publication produced by Aide Medicale Internationale. Salamati magazine is published in Dari, Pashto and English for public health workers in Afghanistan.


UNEP assisted NEPA with the design and content of public awareness and promotional materials for NEPA to distribute to Ministries and other government authorities and during public presentations about NEPA’s work.

In February UNEP staff held an introductory workshop on environment for leaders of girl youth groups from the Afghanistan Women’s Network discussing how youth can become active in the environment field. The group leaders participated in the Hashar Day organized by the Ministry of Agriculture for planting trees and also started their own tree planting activities in different schools and districts.

UNEP participated in the celebrations of International Women’s Day by showing an photo exhibition on women and environment.

WED Celebrations 2007

UNEP, along with the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) and partner organizations sponsored the World Environment Day event at Esteqlal High School in Kabul. The event featured a debate among 8th grade students who were divided into two teams to discuss the subject “What does Afghanistan need, rapid development of environment?” The WED event also included speeches by the Director-General of NEPA, H.E. Mostapha Zaher, Mr. Faizal Zaki, Head of the Parliamentary Commission on Environment for the Wolesi Jirga, a representative from President Karzai and Asif Zaidi, UNEP Afghanistan Programme Manager. A pictorial journey through Afghanistan’s environment closed the event which was well received by the audience and media.

WED 2007 Celebrations organized by NEPA and UNEP in Kabul.


10 Multilateral environmental agreements (Component 9)

UNEP’s objectives under component 9 are to assist in the implementation of multilateral and regional environmental agreements through training and technical support.

UNEP has adopted a cluster approach to MEA implementation in Afghanistan by focusing initially on the green conventions. With the exception of the Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol, accession to the brown conventions will follow in Phase III.

MEA Obligations and applications for financial and technical assistance

UNCBD: UNEP worked with the Ministry of Agriculture to finalize Afghanistan’s Third National Report, which was prepared with financial assistance from UNEP-DGEF. The report, which is the first official report that the Government of Afghanistan has submitted under UNCBD, was formally submitted in April 2007. When and if funding is secured from GEF, work will commence on preparing the First and Second National Reports.

UNFCCC: The proposal for funding for the development of Afghanistan’s Initial National Communication, developed with financial assistance from UNEP-DGEF, was finalized in January 2007 and submitted to UNEP-DGEF for onward submission to GEF. A decision on the proposal remains pending.

Afghan representative from NEPA at the open ended discussion group on environment and globalization at the 24th UNEP Governing Council, February 2007, Nairobi, Kenia


NCSA and NAPA

Afghanistan is a pilot country for joint NAPA and NCSA implementation. The workplans and outputs for the two projects have accordingly been combined. During the reporting period, the following activities were undertaken:

• Three thematic Working Groups, whose members are senior technical officials from relevant ministries, institutions and agencies, met on various occasions. The thematic areas are: 1. biodiversity and wetlands, 2. climate change and disaster preparedness, and 3. desertification, range land and water resources.

• The documents entitled “A biodiversity profile of Afghanistan in 2006” (the first technical document of its kind ever written) and “A Proposed action plan for the conservation of Afghanistan’s biodiversity and Wetlands”, and a desk study thematic assessment (including institutional and legal background relevant to biodiversity) were translated into Dari.

• Based on the request of the Climate Change and Disaster Preparedness Consultant, an exercise for undertaking methodologies for prioritizing vulnerability areas needs assessment and capacity development was implemented.

• A NCSA and NAPA progress report for the period 2004-2006 was developed and finalized.

• A joint NAPA and NCSA headquarters mission was arranged and hosted. The following was achieved during and pursuant to the mission:

o A workshop was held with the working groups where significant progress was observed in the level of knowledge of the conventions. The remaining challenge is to attract greater participation of the members of the working groups and their institutions in the development of the NCSA and NAPA.

o The work plan was revised to meet the needs of the project. Both teams will coordinate to revise the project work plan, extension and to clarify the budget and expenditures.

o The revision reflects a need to streamline the activities and to alter the implementation structure to provide more proactive leadership to the working groups. This will be done by designating a team leader for two working groups and an overall mentor who will who oversee the writing of the required reports as well as the final NAPA/NSCA. This is modeled after the UNEP EC capacity building program for developing governance structures.


Accession to new Conventions

Efforts to accede to the Ramsar Convention and Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) remain ongoing. However, in view of the fact that these are the first conventions to be acceded to since the establishment of the Parliament, the process remains unclear to all concerned, including UNEP, NEPA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the President’s Office and the National Assembly, all of which agencies have at one point or another during the reporting period considered the matter. By the end of the reporting period, approvals had been obtained from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Ministers. The approval of the National Assembly remains outstanding, notwithstanding numerous and repeated attempts to obtain it. Presentations on both conventions, which were prepared during the reporting period, will be given to the Environment Commissions of the National Assembly when it returns from recess in August 2007. It is hoped that no further delays will be encountered in securing the approvals thereafter.

Vienna Convention, Montreal Protocol and National Ozone Unit (NOU)

The National Ozone Unit (NOU) of NEPA has the overall responsibility for the implementation of the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the Ozone Layer and is supported by UNEP. Since its establishment, the Afghanistan Ozone Programme has been progressing in accordance to work plans developed for specific approved projects. The following main activities have been carried out during the reporting period:

• An MOU regarding cooperation between the Ministry of Work, Social Affairs, Martyred, Disabled and the Afghanistan Ozone Programme, NEPA, was signed in February 2007. Under this cooperation agreement, the Ministry of Work, Social Affairs, Martyred and Disabled will provide the space for four training centres to the Afghanistan Ozone Programme. The centres located in Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, and Kandahar will be equipped with basic refrigeration technician training tools by the Afghanistan Ozone Programme supported by the Multilateral Fund Secretariat.

• An MOU was signed between the Government of Afghanistan and UNEP CAP for the amount of 30’000 USD, under which technical assistance to two foam factories in Afghanistan (Arya Foam in Herat and Milli Foam in Kabul) will be provided.

• The NOU issued four ODS import licenses against the allocated quota of imports (57 MT) for the year 2007, the licenses have been issued in consultation with the Ministry of Trade and Commerce.

• The NOU received the 144 units of refrigeration technicians training equipment along with recovery and recycling machines, which will be distributed to local technicians. Similarly the NOU also received the equipment for four training centers which will be established by NOU in collaboration with Ministry of Works, Social Affairs, Martyred and Disabled.


• The NOU organized a five day train the trainers training workshop on "Good Practices in Refrigeration and Use of Recovery and Recycling Machines" in May 2007 for 17 local technicians from Kabul city. The workshop was delivered by technical experts from Iran, GTZ Proklima and UNEP ROAP CAP.

• The NOU developed the Afghanistan Ozone Programme Calendar for the year 2007 which are distributed to the relevant government and non-government institutions. A total of 3,000 calendars were printed.

• The NOU developed a basic scientific book in Dari titled “10 Questions and 10 Answers about the Ozone Layer" which describes basic scientific features of the ozone layer and the causes for its depletion. Around 1’000 copies of the book have been printed and are widely distributed among national stakeholders.

NOU organized train the trainers training workshop on "Good Practices in Refrigeration and Use of Recovery and Recycling Machines" in May 2007 for 17 local technicians from Kabul city.


Afghanistan – Iran Dialogue on Sistan Basin Wetlands

The special Task Force Meeting on the establishment of a joint Committee on the Sistan Basin Wetlands was hosted by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran from 13-14 May 2007.

The objective of this meeting was to review and discuss the draft terms of reference of the Joint Committee on the Sistan Basin Wetlands (JCSBW). The opportunity was also used to discuss the status and way forward with regard to the GEF Sistan project, as well as to provide an update on the development by UNEP (in collaboration with the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), the Netherlands) of a monitoring system for the Sistan basin wetlands.

The draft terms of reference of the JCSBW were jointly adopted by both country delegations and will be referred to higher authorities in both capitals for final endorsement.

The status and way forward concerning the GEF project proposal was discussed at length. A letter addressed to the GEF CEO requesting reconsideration of the Sistan project proposal was prepared and signed by the heads of both country delegations.

UNEP presented the draft report on establishing a satellite-based monitoring system for the Sistan wetlands, which is made up of three phases: (i) development of remote sensing methodology; (ii) training on date acquisition, treatment and interpretation, and (iii) development of a web-based platform for information sharing.

The third and final meeting hosted by UNEP on the Sistan basin wetlands is to be held in Geneva in late 2007. The main objective of the meeting is to have official endorsement of the JCSBW ToR, as well as examine the status of the GEF proposal and the development of the monitoring system.

11 Inter-agency cooperation

As a member of the UN Country Team (UNCT) and UN Security Management Team UNSMT), UNEP Kabul Office participates in the activities of UNCT and SMT. Given that that the UN Mission in Afghanistan is an integrated mission, the extent of cooperation and collaboration among the UN agencies in Afghanistan is exemplary. UNEP contributes regularly towards the initiatives undertaken by UNAMA, which include data collection for financial reporting, Avian Flu, media reporting, Joint Programmes, security, UN General Assembly sessions, Afghanistan Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), interface with the Government of Afghanistan and ISAF, regional cooperation, programmes of various UN agencies, etc. At the request of UN agencies in Afghanistan, UNEP offers its technical expertise in preparing comments on relevant documents. For instance, during the reporting period, UNEP prepared technical comments on an Environmental Impact Statement on Ground Based herbicide eradication of opium poppy in Afghanistan.


12 Concluding Remarks

For the remaining period of 2007 the priorities of the programme lie on the:

• Finalization of the outputs of NCSA and NAPA projects

• Inaugural meeting of the National Environmental Advisory Council (NEAC)

• Finalization of EIA and PA regulations

Extension of Programme

In 2006 the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) expressed the need for an extension of the UNEP Capacity Building and Institutional Development Programme. UNEP in cooperation with the European Commission developed a comprehensive project proposal to extend the programme into a third phase running until 2010.

Phases I and II of the programme were aimed at building the basic institutional and human capacity and developing the regulatory frameworks required for effective environmental management at the national level. Phase III of the programme will build on the foundations created through the successes of Phases I and II by providing assistance to environmental authorities to implement the environmental management framework across the country, and to manage the process of environmental restoration and community-based natural resource management. The primary focus of the programme during the first two phases was on the central level of Government. Activities during Phase III will be aimed at central, provincial and community levels. UNEP will support the strengthening of the nascent regional/ provincial offices of NEPA. Given the positive experience in 2006, for provincial outreach, UNEP will concurrently rely on organizations and projects like Afghan Conservation Corps (ACC), World Conservation Society (WCS), Save Environment Afghanistan (SEA), until NEPA regional/ provincial offices have gained modest managerial and technical capacity. Although the direct beneficiary institution during Phases I and II was NEPA, UNEP nonetheless provided technical support to the Natural Resources Division (NRD) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MoAI), particularly in regard to environmental law and policy. In addition to technical support, dedicated capacity support is planned for this Division in Phase III, particularly in regard to the establishment and effective functioning of the Protected Areas Central Management Authority, which is established by the Protected Areas Regulations to be issued under the Environment Law.

capacity building and institutional development programme

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