Hard hit by global warming Taliban government sends delegation to climate summit

SDA

10.11.2024 - 12:01

Not only decades of armed conflict but also climate change are taking a heavy toll on the Afghan population.
Not only decades of armed conflict but also climate change are taking a heavy toll on the Afghan population.
KEYSTONE

The radical Islamic Taliban government in Kabul says it is taking part in the UN climate conference for the first time since it took power in Afghanistan just over three years ago.

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  • For the first time, the Taliban government is sending a delegation to the World Climate Conference in Baku. This is despite the fact that the current Afghan government is not internationally recognized.
  • Afghanistan is one of the countries most affected by climate change in the world.
  • The Afghan Environmental Protection Agency is calling on foreign countries to resume projects to protect the environment.

An Afghan delegation will travel to the World Climate Change Conference in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, which begins on Monday, the spokesman said. The status of the delegation was initially unclear. However, there were indications that it will only have observer status. The Taliban government, which took power in Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, is not recognized by any state.

Afghanistan tried in vain to participate in the UN climate conferences in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022 and in Dubai in 2023. The country's National Environmental Protection Agency (Nepa) has repeatedly warned against politicizing the fight against climate change and environmental degradation.

Afghanistan hit hard by climate change

Afghanistan is one of the countries most affected by climate change in the world. Nepa has repeatedly called on foreign countries to resume suspended environmental projects in the impoverished and war-torn country in the Hindu Kush.

Azerbaijan, the host country of the two-week World Climate Change Conference (COP29), reopened its embassy in Kabul in February. However, this was not accompanied by official recognition of the Taliban government.

Like almost all other countries in the world, Afghanistan has also joined the Paris Climate Agreement. As the country produces hardly any greenhouse gases, but suffers greatly from the consequences of global warming, Nepa leader Mawlawi Matiul Hak Chalis is claiming for his country to be compensated by richer states for climate-related damage.

SDA