KABUL - UN envoy, Kai Eide today pressed donors and NGOs to focus on the management of Afghanistan’s water resources to lift impoverished communities out of poverty and foster stability by preventing tribal conflicts over vital resources.

Speaking to Afghanistan’s National Conference on Water Resources Development, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Kai Eide said: “Whether we look at poverty, food security, health or economic development, there is no issue more important for this country at this time than the development of Afghanistan’s water resources. The lack of efficient management of Afghanistan’s water resources is at the root of the country’s poverty as well as being the cause of tribal conflicts over resources and territory. We tend to concentrate on short-term projects that yield immediate results at the expense of longer-term projects that can have a fundamental impact on the country’s future.”

Decades of conflict have destroyed Afghanistan’s irrigation systems, stunting the growth of the agro-economy. Afghanistan’s economy has traditionally been dominated by agriculture and it now accounts for over half the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs two thirds of Afghanistan’s workforce according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Eide emphasized the need to discuss trans-boundary water issues with other central Asian states and went on to say “Afghanistan needs agreements with its neighbours that can provide equitable sharing and cooperative management of water resources in accordance with principles of international law. Afghanistan has a right to its share of these resources. Today they are unused. The United Nations, is committed to helping to effectively manage the world's trans-boundary waters and will continue to support such efforts. And UNAMA, with its specific mandate to promote regional cooperation, is ready to help in anyway that the Government requests.

Referring to the prospects of a good harvest this year Eide said “The greening of Afghanistan should not be the result of a single year of good rainfall as we have seen this year. It should be an every year result of sound polices including water resource management. I see such polices emerging today in the Ministry of Agriculture. It deserves our full support and I hope that the progress being made in this key area will also inspire us to new and promising polices in other vital areas of our work.”