Biodiversity Profile of Afghanistan - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

1 Introduction
Afghanistan.is.a.country.rich.in.living.resources.and.
natural.beauty...Its.striking.landscapes.of.mountains,.
deserts,.open.woodlands.and.forests.are.home.to.
a.vast.array.of.species.existing.in.a.multitude.of.
ecological.conditions....Unfortunately,.the.upheaval.
of.the.recent.decades.of.war,.a.changing.climate.
and. rapid. population. growth. appear. to. have.
left. the. country’s. environment. in. ruins.. . . Once.
Afghanistan.achieves.conditions.of.basic.personal.
and.political.security,.true.development.will.require,.
among.other.things,.maintaining.and.enhancing.
the.quality.of.the.environment.that.Afghans.depend.
upon.for.their.livelihoods...
Before.concrete.measures.can.be.undertaken.to.
protect.and.rehabilitate.the.Afghan.environment,.
a.better.understanding.of.current.conditions.must.
be. developed.. . Very. little. recent. information. is.
available,.with.most.of.the.primary.literature.based.
on.first-hand.observations.pre-dating.1980...With.
few.exceptions,.recent.summaries.of.Afghanistan’s.
Band-e-Amir is located in Bamiyan Province of Central Afghanistan
and is the first proposed national park in Afghanistan
for Global Environment Management (NCSA) for Afghanistan
biodiversity. and. environment. have. depended.
upon.secondary.sources,.often.uncited,.ultimately.
referring.to.data.that.are.decades.old...
This.report.attempts.to.provide.a.focused.and.welldocumented.desk.study.of.what.is.currently.known.
about. Afghanistan’s. biodiversity.. . Every. attempt.
has.been.made.to.go.back.to.primary.sources.
to.ensure.the.credibility.of.the.data.....The.report.
consists.of.three.parts:
1.. a.narrative.summary.of.the.major.aspects.of.
Afghan.biodiversity;.
2.. authoritative. checklists. of. known. Afghan.
species.based.on.current.taxonomy;.and.
3.. a. reference. list. on. Afghan. biodiversity.
categorized.by.major.subjects.
The.paper.was.developed.for.the.Kabul.office.of.
the.United.Nations.Environment.Programme.(UNEP).
as.part.of.the.National.Capacity.Self-Assessment.
for. Global. Environment. Management. (NCSA).
project.for.Afghanistan.
2 What is Biodiversity?
Biodiversity.is.a.contraction.of.“biological.diversity”.
and.defined.by.the.United.Nations.Convention.on.
Biological.Diversity.as:
… the variability among living organisms from
all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial,
marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the
ecological complexes of which they are part;
this includes diversity within species, between
species and of ecosystems.
Central.to.the.concept.of.biodiversity.is.the.idea.of.
“variability”.or.the.differences.among.collections.of.
living.things...This.variability.can.arise.from.number.or.
types.of.species,.from.the.different.ways.that.species.
are.organized.into.biotic.communities.and.ecosystems,.
and.from.the.vast.array.of.genetic.differences.existing.
between.individuals,.populations.and.species...
Afghanistan’s. biodiversity. is. manifested. in. many.
ways:. number. of. species,. differences. in. groups.
of. species. in. various. areas,. the. widely. differing.
ecosystems.found.in.various.parts.of.the.country.
and.the.genetic.variation.found.in.natural.species.
and.in.agricultural.crops.and.animals.
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