Under the shade of recently planted poplars in northeastern Afghanistan, village leader Ghulam Ali Poya takes pride in witnessing residents rediscover the value of trees after years of wartime deforestation. "There were forests of pistachio trees," he told AFP, gesturing to the bare mountains surrounding Char Bagh's mud homes. "During the conflicts and the civil war, they were destroyed; no one could stop the logging."
Decades of Deforestation
From the 1979 Soviet invasion until the fall of the first Taliban government in the early 2000s, "around 50 percent of Afghanistan's forest cover was lost," said Mohammad Nasir Shalizi, a researcher at North Carolina State University. In eastern Afghanistan, timber smuggling to Pakistan drove massive logging, while in the more arid central and northern "pistachio belt," residents used wood for heating and cooking. However, in the last two decades, deforestation has slowed "substantially," Shalizi noted.
Recovery and Reforestation Efforts
Forest cover has increased 35 percent nationwide since 2011, according to the National Statistics and Information Authority, though just 2.5 percent of Afghanistan was forested in 2025 and cover is still shrinking in some areas. Experts say communities are working to improve forest cover. Both the US-backed government, in place until 2021, and the current Taliban administration have supported tree-planting campaigns. In Char Bagh, the Aga Khan Development Network funded a kilometre-square grove that includes poplars, paulownias, pomegranates, and persimmons.
Farmer Bas Begum Ahmadi owns the land and hopes to sell fruit and homemade jam, but the grove is also open to the community of 350 families. "Having these trees makes me feel good; my environment is green, and we breathe fresh air," said the 45-year-old, who tends the trees with her husband to support their four children. This "micro-forest" follows Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki's principles: dense planting of mostly local species of varying heights. It is noticeably cooler than the surrounding bare fields and offers twigs for stove fuel and leaves that feed livestock.
Micro-forests "restore ecosystems, improve soil fertility, help climate resilience, and support community livelihood," said Parisa Malikzada, Afghanistan agriculture coordinator for the organization, which has planted 500 micro-forests in seven provinces. Poya noted that the forest, next to a river, prevents soil erosion during flooding and offers "a model for people." "Everyone comes to have a look, and they'd like to have one too," he told AFP.
Community-Based Management
In Afghanistan, where many places are hard to reach and the state has limited funds, community-based forest management is the most effective approach to reforestation, experts told AFP. Afghan authorities have set a goal of planting 200 million trees between 2023 and 2030, relying partly on NGOs, the United Nations, and the private sector. "Last year, the target was eight million, but in the end, 17 million were planted," said Rohullah Amin, head of climate change at the General Environmental Protection Agency, where he has worked for more than a decade. This year's goal is nine million.
Challenges and Adaptations
Challenges include selecting native, climate-adapted species, water scarcity, and livestock damaging saplings. Some forests have struggled with "lack of care or water," Amin acknowledged, including one site where drought killed 70 percent of the planted pines. In some places, tribal councils protect forests and penalize residents who damage them. Elsewhere, "forest management associations" run by elected villagers and farmers have been established. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has helped them plant five million trees since 2019, according to its climate change chief, Muhammad Safi.
Government and Community Initiatives
The government created nurseries to grow local species in places such as Paghman on state land on Kabul's outskirts. Head gardener Mahmood Khwajazada carefully tends almond, pine nut, and walnut trees, as well as deodar cedars, for distribution nationwide. "Our Prophet said, 'Even if you have only one day left, plant a tree,'" he told AFP. In Charikar, northeastern Afghanistan, where thousands of saplings were planted this year along streets, in parks, and on hillsides, the municipality sees "a change" in people's attitude towards trees. Ahmad Khalid Sabiri, a resident, said he volunteered to help plant "because it's beneficial for the environment."
Experts said more work is needed to protect the remaining old growth, as well as planting in forests rather than just in urban areas. "There's good work happening, but far more needs to be done" to address the impact of global warming, according to Apoorva Oza, head of climate change at the Aga Khan Foundation. In Char Bagh, Poya sees a beneficial effect of trees on biodiversity, with the return of long-absent birds. "Don't build a cage for a bird; plant a tree near your house," he said.
