Forest


Afghanistan has 2.1 % or 1,350,000 ha of forest cover in total and most of the forests cover lies in mountain areas. These forests contain 38 million metric tons of carbon in living forest biomass. Biodiversity and Protected Areas: Afghanistan has some 694 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles according to figures from the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Of these, 1.3% are endemic, meaning they exist in no other country, and 4.5% are threatened. Afghanistan is home to at least 4000 species of vascular plants, of which 20.0% are endemic. Historically, forest cover in Afghanistan was more extensive than its current state. Under the influence of the Indian Ocean monsoons, deciduous and evergreen forests once covered large areas of the eastern part of the country. More recently, FAO reports of the 1970’s estimated that roughly 1 million hectares of closed canopy oak forest and 2 million hectares of coniferous, largely pine and cedar forest, amounting to approximately 3.5- 4.5% of the total land surface existed. IMSA is playing its role to recover the defrosted regions by connecting with various partner institutes worldwide and bring their expertise to home.