The Taliban's top environment official wants the UN to include Afghanistan in climate talks
A Taliban delegation attended last year's COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, but as observers.
Matiul Haq Khalis, the head of the National Environmental Protection Agency, said the suspension of environmental protection projects after the Taliban takeover in 2021 had resulted in widespread harm to Afghans. Khalis said he wanted inclusion at COP30, which is being held in Brazil later this year.
Russia is the only country to recognize the Taliban's government.
'Afghanistan is severely affected by climate change,' Khalis told a conference in Kabul. ' Drought, water shortages, declining arable land, flash floods, and threats to food security are having a profound impact on people's lives and the economy.
'Although Afghanistan's contribution to global climate change is almost nonexistent, it suffers greatly from its consequences.. As a victim of climate change, Afghanistan has the right to be present at global platforms, especially at COP30, to voice the damages it has endured.'
Earlier this month, the U.N. published a report that said June was marked by below-average precipitation and higher-than-average temperatures across Afghanistan.
By the end of May, the significant decline in soil moisture had already negatively affected the yield and productivity of rainfed wheat, according to the report from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
'The current monsoon season has started earlier than usual, beginning in May instead of the typical June or July, and is more intense than in recent years. Forecasts indicate above-average rainfall in many regions.'
In Baku last November, Khalis told The Associated Press that authorities had prepared national action plans to deal with climate change and would be updating their climate goals.
He said the country had great potential for wind and solar power, but needed international support to develop it.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
38 minutes ago
- CNN
World marks 80 years since US dropped atomic bomb on Japan as global powers still trade nuclear threats
As the world marks the 80th anniversary of the first use of a nuclear weapon on the Japanese city of Hiroshima near the end of World War II, the planet is closer to seeing them used again than it has been in decades, experts and survivors are warning. At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Wednesday morning, dignitaries and the dwindling number of survivors were set to commemorate the moment a US B-29 bomber dropped the atomic weapon known as 'Little Boy' on August 6, 1945. Three days later the nearby city of Nagasaki was destroyed by a second US atomic bomb. More than 110,000 were killed instantly in the attacks, while hundreds of thousands more perished from injuries and radiation-related illness over the years. To this day they remain the only times that nuclear weapons have been used in warfare. And yet these weapons continue to present a very present-day threat. 'We don't have much time left, while we face greater nuclear threat than ever,' Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese grassroots organization of survivors that won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its pursuit of nuclear abolishment, said in a statement ahead of the ceremony. 'Our biggest challenge now is to change nuclear weapons states that give us cold shoulders even just a little.' Contemporary tensions have been reflected in just the past week, with nuclear saber-rattling between Russia and the United States over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. And recent months have seen the US strike Iranian nuclear facilities with its powerful conventional bombs in a bid to stop Tehran's nuclear program. Earlier in the year, nuclear powers India and Pakistan fought a brief conflict over their long contested control of Kashmir, prompting world leaders to scramble and avoid a dangerous escalation between the two. 'We see a clear trend of growing nuclear arsenals, sharpened nuclear rhetoric and the abandonment of arms control agreements,' Hans Kristensen, associate senior fellow with the Stockholm International Peace Research's (SIPRI) Institute Weapons of Mass Destruction Program, said in June. The alarming nuclear trends played a large role in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists earlier this year moving their 'Doomsday Clock,' founded in 1947, closer than ever to a planetwide catastrophe, 89 seconds to midnight. The clock moved only one second from 90 seconds 2024, but the 2025 report says the small difference should not be reason to celebrate. 'Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice, a move of even a single second should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster,' a press release on the move said. The group also considers climate change, biological threats like pandemics and bioweapons, and 'disruptive technologies,' for instance, nefarious use of artificial intelligence, when setting the clock. But the nuclear threat was front and center of their report released at the end of January. 'The countries that possess nuclear weapons are increasing the size and role of their arsenals, investing hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons that can destroy civilization,' the Doomsday Clock report said. The Hiroshima atomic bomb, with an explosive yield of 15 kilotons, would be considered a low-yield nuclear weapon by today's standards. The largest nuclear weapon in the US arsenal has a yield of 1.2 megatons, 80 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A single modern nuclear weapon, if exploded over a large city, could kill millions instantly, experts warn. And there are more than 12,000 total in the hands of nine nuclear powers, the US, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel, according to SIPRI. Nearly all of those countries 'continued intensive nuclear modernization programs in 2024, upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,' SIPRI's latest annual report said. The US and Russia combined hold about 90% of the world's nuclear weapons, but smaller nuclear powers are growing or planning to grow their arsenals, according to the report. China has been at the forefront of growth, adding about 100 nuclear warheads a year, a trend the SIPRI said it expects to continue. India is thought to be adding to its stockpile, and the UK is expected to soon, the report said. Meanwhile, North Korea shows no sign of backing off its nuclear status, with Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, saying last month that Pyongyang won't give up its warheads in exchange for talks with Washington and Seoul. 'Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state … will be thoroughly rejected,' she said, using the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Boris Johnson: Taiwan has better claim to statehood than Palestine
Taiwan has a 'far more robust' claim to statehood than Palestine, Boris Johnson has said. While an 'analogy' can be drawn between the two places, the former prime minister added, Taiwan's claims for recognition are stronger. Mr Johnson told an audience in Taipei: '[The Taiwanese] actually have a recognised government. They actually have boundaries that they control. 'They actually have a proper democratic system, none of which you could say, with all due respect, about Palestine.' Taiwan's claims are 'far more robust' he said at the Ketagalan Forum, a security conference in Taipei. While Taiwan and Palestine are both seeking international recognition, they differ in many ways given their distinct histories and political systems. Taiwan is an island nation located off the south-east coast of China, with a population of approximately 23 million people. It is recognised as a distinct country with its own democratic government, visa rules, airline and army. It is also largely integrated into the global economic system. The island is under threat from China, which claims the territory as its own. Wu Qian, China's defence ministry spokesman, said earlier this year: 'We will come and get you, sooner or later.' Only 13 countries recognise Taiwanese statehood. Britain supports Taiwan's participation in international organisations where statehood is not a prerequisite, but does not have formal diplomatic relations with the island. Palestine is a state under occupation, which has long sought sovereignty amid internal divisions and external threats from Israel. It is primarily managed by the Palestinian National Authority (PA), which runs the West Bank, but Hamas, the terror group, controls the Gaza Strip. Palestine's borders remain contested, it has no army, no central government and does not recognise the state of Israel. Some 147 of the 193 UN member states recognise Palestine. Britain, France and Canada have all signalled their intention to do so by September, putting pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli president, who is now considering full occupation of the territory. In response to questions from journalists in Taipei, Mr Johnson spoke about the global risk of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, drawing comparisons with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Without naming either China or Taiwan, he seemed to make a veiled threat towards China that the use of 'force in situations like this can lead to utter disaster – not just for the world, but for you'. Mr Johnson noted that neither the UK nor the US 'want to see a change in the balance of power' in the Indo-Pacific or 'a change in the composition of the First Island Chain', the group of islands that stretches from Japan down through Taiwan to the Philippines. While he didn't elaborate on what the UK could do to maintain the status quo, he noted that the UK trade office in Taiwan, which serves as the country's de facto embassy in the absence of formal diplomatic relations, had been 'very busy' and 'things are picking up'. John Healey, the Defence Secretary, told The Telegraph last week that the UK would be 'ready to fight' if a conflict broke out in the Indo-Pacific . Mr Johnson is the third British former prime minister to visit Taiwan, following Liz Truss in 2023 and Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s. It was his first visit, and during his keynote address to the forum earlier in the day, he joked that before today he had 'only seen this country on my 'lockdown' Peloton machine', which had a screen showing one of Taiwan's virtual coastal paths. During his speech, he also accused China of 'trying to bully Taiwan into submission' through its 'grey zone' coercion where it sends 'boats into Taiwanese waters and planes into Taiwanese airspace'. China has increased these methods of intimidation against Taiwan in recent years, which experts say is probably a strategy to demonstrate its capabilities and erode trust in the government in Taipei. Mr Johnson said that these incursions seem to be an effort 'to remind the world' of the 'might of the Chinese armed forces and thereby signalling their intention by 2027' – the year that Chinese president Xi Jinping reportedly told his military to be prepared for an invasion. During her visit to Taiwan in 2023, Ms Truss urged Taiwan to stand up to 'aggressive bullying' by China, and called the government in Beijing 'totalitarian'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Solve the daily Crossword
CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
Asia markets set to open lower, tracking Wall Street losses
Asia-Pacific markets are expected to open lower, tracking losses on Wall Street as investors weighed weaker-than-expected economic data as well as fresh tariff comments from U.S. President Donald Trump. "We're going to be announcing [tariffs] on semiconductors and chips, which is a separate category, because we want them made in the United States," Trump said on Tuesday stateside, adding that he'll announce the new plan "within the next week or so." Happy Wednesday from Singapore. Asia markets are poised for a lower open. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was set to start the day lower with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,739, compared with its last close of 8,770.4. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Osaka last traded at 40,555 against the index's last close of 40,549.54. Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index stood at 24,812, pointing to a weaker open compared with the HSI's last close of 24,902.53. — Lee Ying Shan The three leading U.S. indexes finished lower Tuesday. The S&P 500 fell 0.49%, closing at 6,299.19, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.65% to end at 20,916.55. The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved 61.90 points lower, or 0.14%, to settle at 44,111.74. — Sean Conlon U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters near Air Force One at the the Lehigh Valley International Airport on August 03, 2025 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images President Donald Trump spoke with "Squawk Box" in a wide-ranging conversation. Here are some of the highlights: On semiconductors, Trump said his administration is going to announce new tariffs "within the next week or so." "We're going to be announcing on semiconductors and chips, which is a separate category, because we want them made in the United States," he said during the interview. When it comes to his planned pharmaceutical tariffs, Trump said that the levies could eventually reach up to 250%. That's the highest tariff rate he's threatened to date. The president also revealed in the interview that he's considering four candidates for future Federal Reserve chair, which does not include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "Well, I love Scott, but he wants to stay where he is," Trump said. — Kevin Breuninger, Annika Kim Constantino, Jeff Cox, Sean Conlon
