As world leaders meet Monday for climate talks in Egypt both the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and the UN in Afghanistan called for urgent collective action in the country.

Afghan Voice Agency(AVA)_monitoring, Afghanistan is one of the least prepared countries to deal with climate shocks but is ranked the sixth most affected in the world to climate-related threats.
The country is already prone to frequent natural disasters that cause loss and damage to lives, livelihoods, homes and infrastructure.

The IEA said in a statement Monday that it considers the holding of the 27th Climate Change Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt as the first step towards finding a solution to the current climate challenges in the world.

“Since the effects of climate change do not recognize political borders, its solutions should be independent of political considerations, and countries like Afghanistan, which have not had any negative contribution to climate change, but are struggling with its negative effects, should not be ignored,” the statement read.

The IEA also stated that this year alone, Afghanistan has suffered losses worth more than $2 billion due to the negative effects of climate change.

“In addition to compensating for this loss, reducing other possible losses and increasing the resistance of threatened communities to restore economic stability in the country, development assistance from the international community is necessary in the light of our national priorities.”

The UN in Afghanistan also issued a statement and pointed out that the country is already prone to frequent natural disasters.

The UN stated that these existing threats coupled with Afghans’ high dependence on agricultural livelihoods, Afghanistan’s fragile ecosystem, acute environmental degradation, poor socio-economic development and the impact of more than four decades of war have laid the foundation for extreme climate vulnerability.

“It is ordinary Afghans who suffer the most when these shocks occur,” said Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, and Humanitarian Coordinator.

“It is devastating to see the most vulnerable Afghans bear the brunt of environmental disasters, and it is increasingly challenging to build long term resilience and adaptation when we are constantly managing short term crises and in the absence of sufficient adaptation funding.”

He also said: “Urgent adaptation and climate action is a must to tackle the drivers behind ongoing humanitarian crises.”

“Action for Afghanistan is needed now,” Alakbarov said. “We cannot wait. Afghans do not have time to wait.”

COP27 takes place Monday and Tuesday and then will continue until November 18 for ministerial meetings. It will bring together 110 heads of state and government – with the notable absence of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, whose country is the world’s top emitter of greenhouse gasses.

US President Joe Biden, whose country ranks second on the top-polluters list, will join COP27 later this week.