NEPA criticizes Afghanistan’s absence in COP27

KABUL (TOLOnews): The National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) criticized the lack of official Afghan representation at the COP27 held in Egypt.
Speaking at a press conference on climate change, the acting head of the National Environmental Protection Agency, Hafiz Aziz Rahman, criticized the absence of an official representative from Afghanistan at COP27, saying that climate change has no national boundaries and should not be politicalized.
Aziz Rahman said that Afghanistan has not played any role in causing climate change but is the most affected by it, and the country is witnessing its worst drought in over two decades.
“The climate changes and warm waves around the world and particularly in Afghanistan has been one of the biggest environmental challenges,” he said.
The deputy head of the department, Zainul Abideen, criticized the international community for halting 32 environmental protection projects worth $805 million.
“We call on the officials of the relevant departments to help us in financial and technical affairs of climate change and to not politicalize the essential humanitarian issues,” he said.
“Halting these projects means that the Afghans are deprived of financial support to counter the climate change. It means they deprived the people of Afghanistan, who are the vulnerable people due to climate change, of their rights,” said Rohullah Ameen, an official of the National Environmental Protection Agency.
There was no official representative from Afghanistan at the COP27 in Egypt. Afghanistan is ranked sixth and is most affected in the world by climate-related threats, according to the United Nations.