More species come under protection

Mustafa Zahir, NEPA director-general

Back in June 2009, Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) officially released the country’s first ever list of protected species. The list, just like similar ones in the western world protects certain species of animals and plants that are endanger of becoming extinct from illegal hunting and harvesting. NEPA also puts together recovery plans for these threatened species. The list already contains such species as the snow leopard, brown bear, Paghman salamander, and the Himalayan elm tree. When the list was announced in 2009, the list contained 33 species.

Today, in a press conference, the director-general of Afghanistan’s National Environment Protection Agency, Mustafa Zahir, announced that 15 more species has been added to the list, including the recently rediscovered “rarest bird”, the large-billed reed warbler. Besides the large-billed reed warbler, seven mammals, a tree, and six other birds were added. The large-billed reed warbler is so elusive that it had been documented only two other times before in more than a century. It was first spotted in 1867 in India, then in 2006 in Thailand. Recently, the bird was found breeding in the remote, peaceful Wakhan Corridor in northeastern Afghanistan. Afghanistan has now a total of 48 species on the protected list, and there are plans to add more.

February 28, 2010 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Environmental Issues