Kabul – The Afghanistan Resilience Consortium (ARC) today released a position paper for the Brussels Conference calling on Afghanistan and international partners to allocate greater political, technical, and financial resources to building the country’s resilience to natural hazards and climate change.
Afghanistan is facing one of the world’s most serious humanitarian and environmental crises, with millions of people in need of assistance and an even greater number at risk from natural hazards and climate change. As one of the world’s least developed countries, Afghanistan cannot face these challenges alone and needs support from the international community.
The ARC’s position paper provides concrete recommendations to the Government of Afghanistan and its international partners, including:
- integrating environmental issues into humanitarian response;
- developing a national resilience framework that integrates ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation across all levels of national planning;
- building community-based resilience through local-level environmental initiatives across the country; and
- strengthening the institutions and coordination mechanisms for planning and respond to shocks when they occur.
UN Environment is a founding member of the ARC, which was established in 2014 as a partnership with Afghanaid, ActionAid, Concern Worldwide, and Save the Children. The ARC is currently working with hundreds of communities across the country in order to build their resilience to natural hazards and climate change.
