VZCZCXRO9580
RR RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHPW RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #2069/01 1781241
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271241Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8843
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 002069 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/FOR, SCA/RA, AND SCA/A 
DEPT FOR S/TAS and OES/STC 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR GERBER 
USDOC FOR DEES, CHOPPIN, AND FONOVICH 
CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USEPA/INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 
OSD FOR SHIVERS 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: SENV TBIO PGOV AF
SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN - USEPA SCIENCE FELLOWS ADVISING, COACHING GOA 
ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 
 
KABUL 00002069  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. Two Embassy Science Fellows detailed from the United States 
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) have been engaged with their 
Afghan counterpart National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) 
since late 2006.  The two-year-old Afghan agency is building itself 
and its environmental management programs from the ground up while 
trying to address a decades-old legacy of environmental neglect and 
abuse.  The Science Fellows have found themselves focusing mainly on 
elevating the basic ability of the agency to manage itself and its 
programs.  Beyond that, the Science Fellows have assisted NEPA in 
revising its new environmental law and regulations, establishing 
protected areas, laying the groundwork for adopting international 
treaties on wetlands and migratory species, establishing an online 
regulatory information center, and building wetlands for wastewater 
treatment.  Their expertise has been effective and much appreciated, 
given the near absence of local expertise in this field. 
 
¶2.  This is the first in a series of three cables on the activities 
of Post's two USEPA Embassy Science Fellows.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
BACKGROUND: BUILDING FROM THE GROUND UP 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. Like most of the GoA, NEPA is building its management, technical, 
and administrative capabilities from the ground up.  Prior to NEPA's 
founding two years ago, environmental governance was almost unknown 
in Afghanistan.  Given that an environmental function has never 
existed in Afghanistan's central government, a strong case existed 
for capacity building and institutional development of the 
environment function. 
 
¶4. Originally a part of the Ministry of Water and Power, NEPA became 
a stand-alone agency two years ago.  Eight regional offices and one 
central headquarters office in Kabul oversee environmental issues 
throughout the 34 provinces of Afghanistan.  Current staffing of 
NEPA is nearly 400.  In addition to creating NEPA, the GoA also 
passed an environmental law by presidential decree in 2006 (amended 
in March 2007).  Since that time, NEPA has been drafting 
environmental regulations (with assistance from UNEP) and developing 
enforcement capability. 
 
 
NEED FOR BASIC ASSISTANCE 
------------------------- 
 
¶5. To determine immediate assistance needs of NEPA, the Embassy and 
USEPA met with NEPA's leadership and the international organizations 
and NGOs working on environmental issues in Afghanistan.  From these 
meetings, we learned that the GoA had not addressed environmental 
issues for many years, if at all, and the people at NEPA have little 
experience in managing an environmental regulatory organization. 
The strong consensus was that most technical assistance in 
environmental issues was aimed far above the technical backgrounds 
of the staff and the organizational capacity of the agency.  Our 
Embassy Science Fellows quickly determined that strengthening the 
organization should take precedence over the more specialized 
technical assistance engagement that was originally envisioned.  The 
Science Fellows' assistance to NEPA has therefore focused on 
developing management and planning skills, such as work planning, 
budget development and long term agency strategy. 
 
 
ASSISTANCE ON LAW, TREATIES, PROTECTED AREAS 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. In addition to organizational and management assistance at NEPA, 
the Embassy Science Fellow has also provided review and advice on 
Afghanistan's amended environment law (to be reported by septel) and 
the drafted environmental assessment regulations, which are making 
their way through the review and approval process.  NEPA is also 
working to identify and pursue opportunities for Afghanistan in the 
 
KABUL 00002069  002 OF 002 
 
 
international environmental arena.  With help from the Science 
Fellow, the GoA is considering accession to two international 
environmental treaties: the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the 
Convention on Migratory Species (Bonn Convention).   The 
documentation for accession to these treaties has been prepared, and 
the GoA is now deciding on accession. 
 
¶7. The Embassy Science Fellow has also been working with NEPA to 
protect areas of extraordinary environmental value.  The lead effort 
is to create Afghanistan's first national park/protected area around 
the travertine lakes of Band-i-Amir, a site that we believe may 
merit eventual designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  This 
has involved advising on a draft law on protected areas, consulting 
with the Wildlife Conservation Society, Asia Development Bank, and 
UNEP to work out how to administer the area and to address economic 
dislocation, and advising NEPA on how to work with other GoA and 
local entities that have a political stake in the issue.  (NOTE: The 
UNESCO designation requires that the host country already have the 
legal and administrative machinery in place for protecting the site, 
as well as some level of funding to put that machinery in motion. 
In view of the very limited capacity to actually protect the area, 
we believe this designation is some ways off.  END NOTE.) 
 
 
ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER, WASTEWATER TREATMENT 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶8. Early this year, the Embassy Science Fellow began working with an 
ongoing USAID online education project at Kabul University to create 
a virtual environmental information reference center, the 
Environmental Technical Assistance Center (ETAC) at the Kabul 
University.  ETAC will provide reference information for the use of 
practitioners, including regulated polluting companies, to manage 
their operations and materials in an environmentally responsible 
manner. 
 
¶9. Finally, the Embassy Science Fellow has provided expert input in 
promoting innovative and environmentally friendly ways of addressing 
environmental issues.  For example, the Science Fellow has drafted a 
proposal for a pilot project to construct wetlands for treating 
wastewater.  This low-tech, low-cost approach to wastewater 
treatment has garnered interest from NGOs and IOs operating in 
Afghanistan, and we hope to have an agreement to build a project. 
 
 
COMMENT: FOCUS ON THE BASICS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶10. Our Embassy Science Fellow colleagues have had a productive tour 
here (with three months to go for the second Science Fellow).  They 
have brought a rare skill set to Afghanistan, which has very few 
environmental professionals and virtually no institutional knowledge 
of how to go about managing its environmental assets.  This 
expertise has been applied to good effect in several areas and is 
much appreciated by the GoA, which understands its limits in this 
field. 
 
¶11. In addition, they have adapted their engagement here to fit the 
rudimentary circumstances that prevail in the Afghan government. 
Whereas both the Embassy and NEPA had envisioned a purely technical 
assistance mission, in practice this has changed into something more 
of a coaching session in how to manage the organization and get its 
members to produce something.  To be sure, the Science Fellows have 
delivered technical assistance, but without paying attention to the 
organization and its shortcomings, the technical part of the 
assistance would have gone for naught. 
 
WOOD