The Environment and Natural resources program, funded by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (hbs), aims to enhance the understanding and knowledge of the target communities and civil societies in Afghanistan about protecting the environment, climate change, and natural resources management.

TLO, The Liaison Office, has been a close cooperation partner with hbs since its establishment in 2003. The collaboration has organically grown into a long-lasting and close partnership with hbs also institutionally supporting TLO. After the hbs Kabul office closed in 2017, hbs handed over most of its work in the field of ecology to TLO, including working themes, initiatives, and cooperation partners, such as the ENRMN network or Mediothek Afghanistan. Since 2017 TLO, whenever required, also functions as the local representative of the foundation in Afghanistan.

The ENR 2021 program focused on interventions to strengthen the capacity of the local public and civil society organizations in taking initiatives to (i) develop and build the capacity of the line officials to improve the legal and regulatory framework concerning the protection of the environment, utilization of the natural resources and awareness about the climate change effects on the general public, (ii) building capacity of the echo-journalists to be able to effectively conduct investigative journalism exercises by pin-pointing the challenging environmental topics affecting lives of the public, (iii) and strengthening the ability of the civil society organizations to bring the environmental, climate change and natural resource management issues through advocacy campaigns, policy dialogues, press releases and round-tables, and (iv) research on the hiring of local people around the mining sites and its effect on security and environment.

The Environment and Natural resources program 2022 focuses to enhance the understanding of the communities on trending environmental issues, climate change, and sustainable use of natural resources through (i) writing articles on the role of men and women in caring for the environment according to the afghan culture and Islam to motivate the community toward environment protection, writing articles to document the community involvement in mine extraction sites to highlight the role of communities in mine extraction, (ii) support the Environment and Natural Resources Management Network (ENRMN) to advocate for trending environmental issues in the country and support environmental civil society organizations in Afghanistan, (iii) conduct research on water shortage and water management to highlight the impact of climate change and recommend possible mitigation options, (iv) create awareness about the importance of maintaining the environment and addressing prioritized environmental challenges through broadcasting and distributing awareness materials, (v) conducting of grand seminars/conferences and celebration of the environmental days to promote environmental awareness in the community, (vi) documenting the TLO’s approach over last two decades in the field of environment and natural resources, and (vii) publish articles on international website and formats about the environmental situation of the country to lobby for further attention to the environment and natural resources sector of the country.