KABUL: According to organizers, the Taliban government has begun the initial round of talks regarding the effects of climate change in Afghanistan with the UN, funders, and non-governmental organizations. This was announced on Wednesday.
Afghanistan is among the nations least equipped to deal with the consequences of climate change, which are causing extreme weather events and altering natural environments, after 40 years of conflict.
Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021, little foreign help has reached the country. Donors are hesitant to support a government that is widely viewed as a pariah, thereby exacerbating the negative consequences on impoverished and climate-vulnerable people.
According to country director Terje Watterdal, the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC) co-hosted three days of negotiations that concluded on Tuesday at a press conference in Kabul.
According to him, since the August 2021 government change, this was the first time Taliban representatives had “joined a parallel session, face-to-face and online, with a broad range of their counterparts in the West.”
Universities, diplomats, UN organizations, donors, and ordinary Afghan citizens participated in the discussions. According to Watterdal, all parties concur that “both individual and collective action is required both inside and outside of Afghanistan.”
“The national and international organizations striving to mitigate the effects of climate change and lessen its impact in Afghanistan have the full support of all government ministries.””It is necessary to de-politicize key development issues, such as climate change,” according to Watterdal.
