KABUL - The first pictorial guide to the flora of Afghanistan co-authored in English and Dari by a Kabul born scientist has been made available for free to thousands of Afghan students as the United Nations wrapped up its International Year of Biodiversity.

The publication of the 870-page Field Guide Afghanistan – Flora and Vegetation includes an introduction by UN Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ahmed Djoghlaf.

With more than 1,200 illustrations and descriptions of plants, the atlas is “a milestone in Afghan Botanical Studies is aimed at research scientists and students as well as the educated general reader,” according to publisher Scientia Bonnensis.

Some 4,500 copies of the atlas – written by Siegmar W. Breckle of the University of Bielefeld and the Kabul born scientist Daud Rafiqpoor at the University of Bonn – were distributed for free to universities and educational institutes throughout Afghanistan between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

"The potentially far-reaching impacts of biodiversity loss and natural resource degradation for the Afghan people led the Government of Afghanistan to sign and ratify the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) in 1992," has said Asif Zaidi, Programme Manager at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The UN General Assembly, of which Afghanistan is a member, agreed last month to allow UNEP to set up the Intergovernmental Science Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a new international body aimed at reversing the unprecedented loss of species and ecosystems vital to life on Earth due to human activity.

UNEP has actively supported sustainable environmental management programmes in Afghanistan since 2002.