Kunar, Afghanistan – Under a Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded project in Afghanistan, FAO in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) recently supported the rural communities in Kunar province by providing more than 50,000 walnut saplings for reforestation. This effort aimed to raise the awareness of the communities about sustainable forest management, rehabilitation and restoration of degraded forest areas, increasing biomass and promoting biodiversity conservation, reducing soil erosion, enhancing carbon sequestration, and reducing GHG emission.

“Sustainable forest management can have a vital role in climate change mitigation. At the same time, it also contributes to improved food security and economic development. I would like to sincerely thank GEF for supporting such an important project in Afghanistan”, says Rajendra Aryal, FAO Representative in Afghanistan.

Deforestation and forest degradation are serious challenges in Afghanistan 

Afghanistan has about 1.78 million ha of forest and shrubs accounting for about 2.8% of the total land area. Forests in Afghanistan however have experienced a rapid decline. Between 1990 and 2000 an average annual rate of deforestation was 2.3% based on forest area estimated in 1990, which further increased to 2.9% per annum between the years 2000 and 2005. Over the period of 15 years (1990-2005), the country lost about 34% of its forest cover, which was about 442,000 ha.

The main factors for deforestation and forest degradation are over-exploitation of natural resources, overgrazing, unsustainable harvesting, and the limited number of rehabilitation and restoration initiatives. Illegal felling and transporting of trees for the use as construction material and firewood also contributed to deforestation. Kunar is one of the provinces that is highly affected by the deforestation causing serious environmental damages, such as heavy sedimentation in Kunar River, floods, and landslides.

“Deforestation was a big issue in Kunar Province because there were no alternative livelihoods options for the surrounding communities. Felling of trees and selling in the local market was a good source of income. Thanks to the GEF-funded project that is providing not only the awareness-raising sessions on the importance of natural resources management and sustainable forest management, but also the walnut saplings that has allowed the communities to plant walnuts in the targeted areas and contribute to reforestation. These trees will be a good source of income for the people and will restore our forest in future”, says Najibullah Adel, the Provincial Director of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (PAIL) in Kunar.

FAO promotes community-based sustainable forest management

FAO has established forest management associations (FMAs) at the community level in Kunar Province. These FMAs promote sustainable forest management among community members through different awareness raising sessions that explain the importance of natural resources, current threats to those resources, and sustainable forestry management with the participation of the communities. The associations normally comprise of 11 members, a chairperson, and a vice-chairperson, and all of them work together on sustainable forest management. 

Mr. Tahsil, a 50 year old resident of Manogi District of Kunar Province, used to sell wooden construction materials before becoming a member of a FMA. After attending few awareness raising sessions on the importance of sustainable forest management, he has now become an active member of that FMA. He enthusiastically takes part in raising awareness among other community members on the importance of trees. “Previously, I did not know anything about the importance of trees for our environment and livelihoods. Now I understand their vital role; I therefore teach other community members about the importance of trees and I try to stop them from felling these important trees”, says Tahsil.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through a Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded project in Afghanistan aims to support community-based approaches to sustainable land and forest management, promote biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and rangeland productivity. The project has four components and one of the major activities of the project is to rehabilitate 10,000 ha of high conservation value forests and 20,000 ha of other forest types in Kunar, Paktia, and Badghis provinces.