Afghanistan 6th Most Vulnerable Country to Climate Change: UNDP

May 27, 2024 5:09 am

The representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Stephen Rodriques, said that although Afghanistan does not contribute to climate change, it is the sixth most vulnerable country, losing millions of dollars annually as a result.

In an exclusive interview with TOLOnews, Stephen Rodriques said that the climate change and flooding have caused damage to residents in several provinces of Afghanistan.

According to this UN official, in the past ten years, about one million hectares of land in Afghanistan have turned into desert, causing millions of people to be displaced.

“In the last ten years in Afghanistan, maybe about one million hectares of land became desert, and this country was already drought-stricken. We have seen a lot of droughts, we have seen millions of people have been displaced,we have seen water scarcity,” Stephen Rodriques said.

He also stated that more than 200 people have died and over 300 have been injured due to these floods, and that the search and rescue operations are still ongoing.

Stephen Rodriques further emphasized that UN agencies continue to provide aid in the areas of shelter, food, water, and healthcare for the victims of recent floods.

Stephen Rodriguez added: “Providing them with tents so that they can sleep in temporary shelters was one of the priorities. And then, providing healthcare healthcare services for those who were severely injured. And to prevent the worst problems, we needed to remove debris and remove dead animals to access some areas. There are people without jobs who need food, cash, and water.”

Stephen Rodriguez emphasized that they support female entrepreneurs in Afghanistan and have supported 75,000 women’s enterprises in the past two years alone.

The UNDP representative in Afghanistan explained: “In fact over the last two years, we have supported 75,000 women-led businesses across Afghanistan, some of them are micro- enterprises small and some medium-sized. We have provided them with capital, credit, loans, capacity-building training, support for participation in business activities, and the creation of business associations for women. We have provided extensive support for women.”

Stephen Rodriguez stressed that restrictions on women in Afghanistan cause an annual loss of about $600 million to $1 billion to the Afghan economy.