Over 3.5 million saplings planted in last year; National Environmental Protection Agency

KABUL, Aug. 09 – Officials of the National Environmental Protection Agency presented annual report about their organization’s initiatives and achievements during a press conference under the Government Accountability Program at the Government Media and information Center on Tuesday.

Officials of the National Environmental Protection Agency said that 14,852 facilities, high-rise buildings, baths, factories, oil tanks, regressions, kilns, hospitals, fuel, green areas and waste management have been improved and standardized in the last one year. Several steps have been taken to establish the system, in this regard environmental education has been imparted to about 235,400 people through 1233 programs at the country level.

According to the officials, during the last year, 1318 development, infrastructure, industrial and production projects and activities of the public and private sector were monitored and their environmental and social impacts were evaluated, of which 1299 projects and activities were approved and 91 Projects and activities found substandard and were rejected.

Apart from this, after the continuous efforts of the relevant organization, the provision of 30 million dollars for Afghanistan in the field of climate change through the fund of less developed countries has been assured.

Likewise, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 32 pending projects related to climate change and environmental protection were made possible, of which two projects have been launched, which are among the achievements of the Climate Change Protection Agency.

Environmental Protection Agency officials say that during the past year, 32 licenses were issued to private companies for the protection of endangered wild animals and plants and 149 animal trade was banned while the smuggling of 493 species of wild animals and birds has also been prevented.

Additionally, about 35 million fruit and non-fruit trees were planted during the last year with the support of government agencies and the private sector.