The purpose of this brochure is to give the Afghan people, and other interested persons, a basic overview as to why and how the Law was developed, and the implications of the Law for the ordinary person and the government. This brochure should therefore be read in conjunction with the Law itself (see Official Gazette No. 912, dated 25 January 2007).

This National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) for Afghanistan has been prepared by the National Environmental Protection Agency of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, with technical and advisory inputs from relevant government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, international development organizations and user groups at both national and provincial levels. The NBSAP’s purpose is two-fold: firstly, to provide the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan with a policy document that can help guide the development of the country’s future biodiversity conservation and management programming, and secondly to communicate biodiversity conservation priorities in Afghanistan to the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (a requirement of all countries acceding to the Convention), to other government agencies in Afghanistan, and to Afghanistan’s development partners.

This report presents the baseline conditions for the LDCF project, including specific baselines values for all project outcome and output level indicators. Data for this baseline research was collected from February – August 2014; sources of this data include: 1) focused literature reviews (government laws, policies, and strategies, as well as NGO reports); 2) structured interviews with representatives of six government agencies at the national level in Kabul and representatives of ten government agencies in all four target provinces of Badahkshan, Balkh, Bamyan, and Daikundi; 3) consultations with 22 non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders in all four target provinces; and 4) consultations with 30 local communities in all four target provinces.