National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan.

The National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan (NBSAP) is a sectoral national strategy of Afghanistan covering the period of 2014-2017. Its main objective is to conserve all aspects of Afghanistan’s biodiversity, and ensure that future utilization of biodiversity resources is sustainable.
The NBSAP is mainly dedicated to environmental conservation. However, its Target 4 and Target 8 relate to agriculture and food in conjunction with the environment. In particular, Target 4 is most pertinent to agriculture providing for “biodiversity-based products derived from sources that are sustainably managed, and production areas managed consistent with the conservation of biodiversity”. Regarding this target, the Action Plan consists of the following actions, flagged as “most important”: understanding and utilizing traditional practices and knowledge of conservation and sustainable use; developing innovative ways to undertake biodiversity conservation in concert with poverty alleviation; and developing and implementing community forestry, management and wildlife initiatives using an approach that integrates agricultural, forestry, range and wildlife uses.
The document also includes so-called “important” actions to the same end, including: creating a policy/strategy framework such as a legal system for allocation of user rights over forests and rangeland to communities; and attracting international donor assistance for sustainable land management. The NBSAP also notes other actions for achieving the target such as: supporting the development and implementation of sustainable agricultural practices including the use of local varieties; promoting tourism development, including nature tourism, emphasizing wildlife and natural landscapes; developing a strategic approach to implementing community-based conservation that fully incorporates traditional knowledge and practices; encouraging conservation through People’s Councils/conservation committees, and integrating traditional knowledge into management policies; supporting the development and implementation of sustainable agricultural practices including the use of local varieties; and, finally, establishing law enforcement, including regulation of hunting, fishing and access to firewood and other forest products.
In addition, Target 8 set out that the capacity of ecosystems to deliver goods and services as well as biological resources that support sustainable livelihoods, local food security and health care, especially of poor people should be maintained. The most important action for this Target is to develop plans to manage eastern conifer forests: rebuild community control and government influence; improve trans-boundary cooperation; introduce a timber cooperative; control road access to forests; estimate future timber demands; undertake gradual implementation of export controls; institute grazing management and rotation systems; promote strict protection of forest sites as components of a national protected areas system; etc.
Finally, the NBSAP also provides for measures regarding climate change-related disasters. More specifically, its Target 7 provides that resilience of the components of biodiversity to adapt to climate change need to be maintained and enhanced, and pollution and its impacts on biodiversity – reduced. For this Target, the document provides these key actions: preparing and implementing a national program concerning climate change adaptation, focusing on impacts of glacial retreat, temperature increase, and more frequent droughts and floods; preparing and implementing a national program concerning desertification and its prevention; and establishing an information system to monitor and help implement programs which address climate change, desertification and land degradation issues.
The National Environmental Protection Agency of Afghanistan shall be responsible for coordinating and monitoring the conservation and rehabilitation of Afghanistan’s environment. This mandate gives the Agency overall responsibility for implementation of the NBSAP, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock and other government organizations, and with the technical and financial assistance of international organizations and NGO partners.