Afghanistan Environment - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

limited natural freshwater resources; inadequate supplies of potable water; soil degradation; overgrazing; deforestation (much of the remaining forests are being cut down for fuel and building materials); desertification; air and water pollution in overcrowded urban areas

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection

signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 53.17 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 8.67 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 90.98 megatons (2020 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 203.4 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 169.5 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 20 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

65.33 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Climate

arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers

Land use

agricultural land: 58.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 11.8% (2018)

permanent crops: 0.3% (2018)

permanent pasture: 46% (2018)

forest: 1.85% (2018 est.)

other: 40.1% (2018)

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 0.2% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0.45% of GDP (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 26.3% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 3.34% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: intermediate (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: Crimea-Congo hemorrhagic fever, malaria

Food insecurity

severe localized food insecurity: due to civil conflict, population displacement, and economic slowdown - the food security situation worsened in recent months due to the impact of COVID‑19 as informal labor opportunities and remittances declined; between November 2020 and March 2021, about 13.15 million people were estimated to be in severe acute food insecurity and to require urgent humanitarian assistance, including 8.52 million people in "Crisis" and 4.3 million people in "Emergency"; the food security of the vulnerable populations, including IDPs and the urban poor, is likely to deteriorate as curfews and restrictions on movements to contain the COVID‑19 outbreak limit the employment opportunities for casual laborers (2021)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 5,628,525 tons (2016 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Afghanistan on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Afghanistan 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Afghanistan 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.