Environmental issues in Afghanistan

In 2007, the World Health Organization released a report ranking Afghanistan as the lowest among non-African nations in deaths from environmental hazards.

This has caused far-reaching impacts on Afghanistan, culminating from overlapping interactions of natural disasters (due to changes in the climate system), conflict, agricultural dependency, and severe socio-economic hardship.

Due to a combination of political, geographic, and social factors, Afghanistan is one of the most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts.

[22] Afghans have historically depended on forests for firewood and the revenue generated by export of pistachios and almonds, which grow in natural woodlands in the central and northern regions.

[27][28] The reason for this is that Pakistani government has its forests tightly protected so the timber mafia are busy cutting down trees in Afghanistan instead.

Loss of vegetation also creates a higher risk of floods, which not only endanger the people, but cause soil erosion and decrease the amount of land available for agriculture.

[53] In response to drought, deep wells for irrigation have been drilled which decreased the under ground water level, further draining groundwater resources, which rely on rain for replenishment.

[62] The wetlands, an important habitat for breeding and migrant waterfowl including the dalmatian pelican and the marbled teal, have provided water for agricultural irrigation for at least 5,000 years.

[23] Some of the major water reservoirs and dams include the following: Since 2002, over 5 million Afghan citizens that were residing in Pakistan and Iran have returned to Afghanistan.

[73][74] In 2002, the United Nations Environment Programme found that a lack of waste management systems was creating dangerous conditions in several urban areas.

Urban dumpsites have been used in lieu of managed landfills in Kabul, Kandahar and Herat, often without protection of nearby rivers and groundwater supplies.

In Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif, crude oil spills and leaks are uncontained and unsafe levels of hydrocarbons reach residential water supplies.

In 2008, the Afghan government stated that it was investigating allegation that Pakistan had dumped nuclear waste in southern Afghanistan during the Taliban rule in the late 1990s.