Biodiversity Profile of Afghanistan - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

eaches.of.almost.all.the.main.rivers..Fishes.of.South.
Asian.origin.predominate.in.the.Indus.drainage.
system.while.the.West.Asian.forms.are.dominant.
in.the.south-western.Afghanistan.
Afghanistan. has. a. long. history. of. introduced. fish.
stocking..A.rainbow.trout.hatchery.was.established.
in.1967.at.Qargha.Dam.near.Kabul..In.the.1970s,.
it.produced.about.30,000.fingerlings.which.were.
stocked. in. Qargha. Reservoir. and. the. Panjshir,.
Bamiyan,. Salang. and. Sarde. Rivers.. In. the. 1970s,.
another.trout.hatchery.was.located.near.Paghman.
west.of.Kabul..From.1987.–.1989,.efforts.were.made.
by.UNDP/FAO.to.rehabilitate.the.Qargha.hatchery,.
but.the.venture.was.abandoned.because.of.the.
deteriorating.security.situation.(Petr.1999)..Rainbow.
trout.are.considered.by.the.IUCN.Invasive.Species.
Specialist.Group.as.one.of.the.“100.Worlds’.Worst.Alien.
Invasive.Species”.(Lowe.et..al..2000)..It.is.unknown.
how.detrimental.the.release.of.rainbow.trout.has.
been.to.the.stream.ecosystems.of.Afghanistan..
12.6 Invertebrates
The. vast. majority. of. the. world’s. species. are.
invertebrate.animals,.yet.very.little.investigation.
has. been. made. of. Afghanistan’s. invertebrate.
fauna.and.the.information.that.is.available.has.not.
been.collated..It.is.likely.that.there.are.several.tens.
of.thousands.of.insect.species.in.Afghanistan.
Butterflies. are. the. most. readily. identifiable.
and.best.known.of.the.insects..Appendix.6.is.a.
checklist.of.233.Afghan.butterfly.species.in.nine.
families. compiled. by. Koçak. and. Kemal. (2001)..
No.collection.records.were.provided,.so.it.is.not.
possible.to.assess.the.accuracy.of.this.list..
Appendix.7.is.a.checklist.of.the.mosquito.species.of.
Afghanistan.taken.from.Ward.(1972)..This.work.was.
undertaken.in.the.cause.of.malaria.prevention..
Solem. (1979). studied. the. mollusc. specimens.
collected.by.the.Street.Expedition.and.from.the.
archaeological. site. at. Aq. Kupruk. Cave. (Solem.
1972).. Of. the. 37. species. collected. by. the. two.
expeditions,. Solem. (1979). found. 10. to. be. new.
to. Afghanistan. suggesting. that. “only. the. tip.
of. Afghanistan. molluscan. diversity. has. been.
sampled”..His.review.concluded.that.there.were.73.
mollusc.species.known.from.Afghanistan.in.1979.
Only. one. Afghan. invertebrate,. the. butterfly.
Parnassius autocrator from.the.Pamirs, is.on.the.
IUCN. Red. List. as. being. globally. threatened.. No.
Afghan.invertebrates.are.listed.by.CITES..However,.a.
website.(http://www.comch.ru/~sob/Papilionidae.
html).offers.P. autocrater.specimens.for.$75.–.120..
The. Pamirs. are. especially. attractive. to. butterfly.
hunters.(http://dinets.travel.ru/parnassius.htm)..
The. number. of. invertebrate. species. endemic.
to. Afghanistan. is. not. known,. but. is. likely. to. be.
substantial..
12.7 Plants
There. is. a. large. amount. of. information. on. the.
vascular.plants.of.Afghanistan,.but.little.attempt.
has.been.made.to.consolidate.the.information..
The.most.comprehensive.work.is.the.Flora Iranica.
begun.in.1963.and.now.comprised.of.174.separate.
volumes. dealing. with. individual. plant. families..
Afghanistan.is.within.the.Flora Iranica.region..The.
number.of.Afghan.vascular.plants.is.variously.cited.
as.between.3,500.(Groombridge.1992).and.4,000.
(Groombridge.and.Jenkins.2002)..
Afghanistan’s.Hindu.Kush.is.located.in.an.area.of.
high. vascular. plant. diversity. extending. through.
the. Pamirs. and. Tian. Shan. Ranges. (Map. 5.3. in.
Groombridge.and.Jenkins.(2002))..However,.plant.
diversity.declines.as.one.moves.west.through.the.
Hindu.Kush.and.its.western.extensions.
Natural vegetation in the Wakhan Corridor, Badakhshan Province
32 An Output of the National Capacity Needs Self-Assessment