http://ens.lycos.com/ens/dec2001/2001L-12-06-03.html
                                      
        Assessment of Afghan Environment Proposed for Reconstruction
                                      
    NAIROBI, Kenya, December 6 2001 (ENS) - Environmental issues should
      form part of the package being considered by governments for the
    rehabilitation of Afghanistan, Klaus Toepfer, executive director of
        the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said today.
                                      
                                  Toepfer
                                      
      UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer (Photo courtesy [22]UNEP)
                                      
      In a statement issued following the conclusion of United Nations
   sponsored talks on Afghanistan which ended in Bonn, Germany yesterday,
   Toepfer called for those involved to consider the need for a thorough
                  environmental assessment of the country.
                                      
     Speaking at the UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Toepfer said, "Armed
    conflict, which has been waged in Afghanistan for at least 20 years,
     can lead to environmental degradation in areas such as freshwater,
                   sanitation, forests and soil quality."
                                      
      The Security Council today endorsed the agreement on provisional
   arrangements in Afghanistan pending the re-establishment of permanent
   government institutions. In an agreement brokered by Lakhdar Brahimi,
   Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Afghanistan,
    delegates from four Afghan factions established a 29 member cabinet
       style Interim Authority to govern the country for six months.
                                      
     Toepfer said it is vital that the humanitarian needs of the Afghan
    people are first secured and that an interim government is in place.
    Then, he said, UNEP stands ready to assist in the rehabilitation and
                       reconstruction phase to come.
                                      
                                Afghanistan
                                      
Relics of years of war litter Afghanistan. (Photo courtesy [23]Hossana.net)
                                      
     "A healthy environment is a prerequisite for sound and sustainable
      development. People cannot secure real and sustainable economic
   development, against a background of contaminated water, polluted land
               and marginalized natural resources," he said.
                                      
    UNEP's recently established Post-Conflict Assessment Unit, based in
    Geneva, can extend its work to Afghanistan, Toepfer suggested. This
   work was pioneered in the Balkans following the Kosovo conflict where
    the Balkans Task Force assessed environmental damage caused by armed
               conflict and made recommendations for cleanup.
                                      
   UNEP has been working with the United Nations Office for Coordination
    for Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) which is operating in the region.
    Toepfer believes the two organizations could be in the forefront of
   efforts to mobilize the resources and administration needed to tackle
                  environmental questions in Afghanistan.
                                      
   Toepfer said the first step is to dispatch a mission to the region to
     pinpoint areas in Afghanistan where environmental degradation has
    occurred and where a more in-depth assessment is needed. This would
    build on current desk-top studies that are being carried out by UNEP
          in consultation with other UN agencies and environmental
                               organizations.
                                      
      Findings from this proposed field mission will in turn give the
     international community a clear picture of where cleanup and other
       actions aimed at restoring the Afghan environment are needed.
                                      
                                    fort
                                      
  Fort at the Khyber Pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan (Photo courtesy
                           [24]Richard Stanford)
                                      
     Senior United Nations officials yesterday pledged their agencies'
    support in rebuilding Afghanistan as a donor conference focusing on
    the immediate and longer term needs of the country opened in Berlin.
                                      
      Led by Brahimi, the UN team at the two day meeting of the Afghan
   Support Group includes Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima, High
   Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers and the administrator of the UN
   Development Programme, Mark Malloch Brown, who has been named by Annan
                    to lead the Afghan recovery effort.
                                      
         The 16 member group of donors was presented a paper on the
     humanitarian response and needs, as outlined in the updated Donor
       Alert for $662 million and a new 30 day Emergency Operational
                 Assistance Plan, according to UN sources.
                                      
      The plan is expected to benefit about 900,000 people, including
      500,000 internally displaced persons inside Afghanistan, 300,000
   Afghan refugees in Pakistan and 80,000 in Iran. Another 20,000 Afghan
    refugees in the Central Asian republics are also expected to benefit
                               from the plan.
                                      
    © Environment News Service (ENS) 2001. All Rights Reserved.