Global conference on climate change begins in Nangarhar

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): A three-day international conference on climate change began in eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday.

The conference is hosted by the Nangarhar University and is organized by the Ministry of Higher Education.

Besides Afghan officials, researchers, professors and academic personalities of Nangarhar, experts from a number of countries are participating in the conference.

The participants will share their views on climate change with Afghan officials to be used in making a policy to fight the effects of climate change.

About 250 research papers, including 20 papers from foreign countries, will be presented at the conference.

As the conference began, Nangarhar university chancellor Professor Khalil Ahmad Behsudwal said the purpose of the international conference was how the Afghan government could deal with climate change.

He said the conference would continue for three days and papers from university professors would be presented. The papers will be used in the future, he added.

Deputy prime minister Maulvi Abdul Kabir also addressed the conference and talked about Islamic Emirate’s relations with neighboring and international countries in the field of climate change.

He said Afghanistan had suffered a lot due to climate change and it was a shared responsibility of all to take concrete steps in this regard.

He added that the government was serious about climate change and had taken measures to prevent deforestation and had created a special security unit to protect forests.

He said the Afghans fought bravely against foreign occupation and they should fight together against climate change.

He said Afghanistan desired good relations with all the world. “We will not allow anyone to use this land against another country”.

Acting Agriculture Minister Maulvi Attaullah Omari said underground water level had decreased and diseases increased in the country due to wars and climate change.

Acting Higher Education Minister Sheikh Nada Mohammad Nadeem said that the temperature of the earth was increasing and the world community should prevent harmful devices.

He added: “Through this conference, I hope we will present the real picture of Afghanistan to the world about climate change and that the world needs to take concrete steps in this regard.”

Deputy higher education minister Dr. Lotfullah Khairkhwa also said economically weak countries were currently suffering from climate change and Afghanistan was one of them.

He added that developed countries should compensate these countries for the damages caused by climate change.

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