Biodiversity Profile of Afghanistan - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP
Biodiversity Profile of Afghanistan - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP
Biodiversity Profile of Afghanistan - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP
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Figure.2. WWF-US.Eco-region.Classification.<strong>of</strong>.<strong>Afghanistan</strong>.<strong>and</strong>.Neighbouring.Countries..<br />
. . . . (with.permission.<strong>of</strong>.WWF-USA)<br />
that. broadly. reflects. the. Udvardy. approach,.<br />
while. Takhtajan. (1986). presents. a. global.<br />
floral. classification.. . Table. 4. compares. the.<br />
terminology. <strong>and</strong>. classifications. employed. in.<br />
these.approaches..<br />
The.World.Wildlife.Fund.-.USA.(Olson.et.al.2001) 1 .<br />
has. refined. Udvardy’s. (1975). system. by. classifying.<br />
the. Earth’s. terrestrial. environment. into.<br />
867. eco-regions.. These. eco-regions. average.<br />
150,000. km². as. opposed. the. 740,000. km². <strong>of</strong>.<br />
Udvardy’s. Provinces.. Eco-regions. are. defined.<br />
as. “relatively. large. units. <strong>of</strong>. l<strong>and</strong>. containing. a.<br />
distinct.assemblage.<strong>of</strong>.natural.communities.<strong>and</strong>.<br />
species,.with.boundaries.that.approximate.the.<br />
for Global Environment Management (NCSA) for <strong>Afghanistan</strong><br />
original. extent. <strong>of</strong>. natural. communities. prior. to.<br />
major.l<strong>and</strong>-use.change”..<br />
Figure.2.shows.the.WWF.eco-region.map.available.<br />
on. the. internet. <strong>and</strong>. zoomed. in. to. <strong>Afghanistan</strong>.. It.<br />
shows.<strong>Afghanistan</strong>.with.15.eco-regions.representing.<br />
four.biomes..Five.<strong>of</strong>.<strong>Afghanistan</strong>’s.15.eco-regions.are.<br />
considered.as.globally.“Critical/.Endangered”.<strong>and</strong>.<br />
eight.are.considered.“Vulnerable”..Only.the.“Sulaiman.Range.Alpine.Meadows”.<strong>and</strong>.the.“Northwestern.<br />
Himalayan.Alpine.Shrub.<strong>and</strong>.Meadows” eco-regions.<br />
are.considered.as.“Stable/.Intact”,.<strong>and</strong>.these.ecoregions.are.barely.represented.in.<strong>Afghanistan</strong>..This.<br />
schema.does.not.reflect.the.predominantly.Indo-<br />
Malayan.origin.<strong>of</strong>.the.Jalalabad.Valley’s.biota.<br />
1 Web access to an interactive site is at http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/eco-regions.cfm.<br />
One can search for individual eco-regions, <strong>and</strong> find information about each eco-region, including species lists.<br />
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