AFGHANISTAN EMPLOYMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY FACT SHEETS 217 The Employment and Environmental Sustainability Fact Sheets series provides key features of employment and environmental sustainability performance. Jobs that are green and decent are central to sustainable development and resource productivity. They respond to the global challenges of environmental protection, economic development and social inclusion. Such jobs create decent employment opportunities, enhance resource efficiency and build low-carbon, sustainable societies. The fact sheets include the most recent available data for selected indicators 1 on employment and environmental sustainability: (i) employment in environmental sectors; (ii) skill levels; (iii) vulnerability of jobs; (iv) jobs in renewable energy; and (v) scoring on the Environmental Performance Index. Afghanistan 2 is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central, South and West Asia (Fig. 1). According to the International Labour Organization, Afghanistan s significant geostrategic importance has opened the country to war and instability for more than 3 years and has impeded the development of its economy and the improvement of peoples livelihoods. 3 Figure 1. Map of Afghanistan age (15 64 years), with 44 per cent younger than 15 years (Fig. 2). Figure 2. Demographics for Afghanistan Population: 34.7 million Population growth rate Fertility rate Life expectancy at birth 2.7% 4.7 children 6.7 years Rural population Urban population Afghanistan Population age categories % 2% 4% 6% 8% 54% 44% 14 years 15 64 years 65+ years Its population is mostly rural and growing, with a fertility rate of 4.7 children and life expectancy at 6.7 years. Only 54 per cent of the population is of legal working Note: All data for 216, except fertility and life expectancy, which are 215. updated 2 July 217, http://databank.worldbank.org (accessed 3 July 217). 2% 1. The fact sheet is based on available data only. 2. Afghanistan became a member of the International Labour Organization in 1934. 3. See ILO: The ILO in Afghanistan (Bangkok, 216), www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro bangkok/documents/publication/wcms_45648.pdf. 1
Employment and Environmental Sustainability Fact Sheets 217 As of 217, the labour force participation rate is 52.6 per cent and the employment-to-population ratio is 48 per cent. Both of those rates are more than 6 percentage points higher for men than for women. The total unemployment rate is 8.6 per cent, and the youth unemployment rate is 18.5 per cent, with the female unemployement rate in this age group 6.7 percentage points higher than the male rate. Formal employment is heavily reliant on agriculture 4 and medium-skilled occupations (Fig. 3). Figure 3. Basic employment statistics for Afghanistan, 217 Employment-to-population ratio (15+ years) 8% 6% 4% 2% % Unemployment 25% 2% 15% 1% 5% % Male Female Employment by sector (15+ years) 8% 6% 4% 2% % Total Male Female Unemployment rate Youth unemployment rate (15 24 years) Agriculture Industry Services Employment by occupation 1% 8% 6% 4% 2% % Skill level 1 (low) Skill level 2 (medium) Skill levels 3 and 4 (high) Note: ILO estimates. Labour force participation rate and unemployment: aged 15 years and older. Youth unemployment: aged 15 24 years. Employment by occupation: skill level 1 (low) for elementary occupations; skill level 2 (medium) for clerical, service and sales workers, skilled agricultural and trade workers, plant machinists and assemblers; and skill level 3 and 4 (high) for managers, professionals and technicians. Source: ILO compilation using ILOSTAT, http://www.ilo.org/ilostat (accessed 17 July 217). Vulnerable employment in Afghanistan accounts for 62.9 per cent of the labour force, with the majority of those workers having own-account status, most often within the agriculture sector (Fig. 4). Own-account and contributing family workers are more likely to experience low job and income security than employees and employers, as well as lower coverage by social protection systems and employment regulation. Figure 4. Vulnerable employment, by status, 217 33.4% 3.7% 62.9% Vulnerable employment Employees Employers Own-account workers 38.% Contributing family workers 24.9% Note: Vulnerable employment includes own-account workers and contributing family workers. Source: ILO compilation using ILOSTAT, http://www.ilo.org/ilostat (accessed 17 July 217). 4. Informal employment (self-employed and contributing family members) is excluded from the agriculture calculations. 2
P Employment and Environmental Sustainability Fact Sheets 217 According to the World Risk Report 216, 5 Afghanistan has very high vulnerability to natural disasters and environmental damage, with limited institutional capacity to respond and adapt. According to the Emergency Events Database, 6 there has been a spike in natural disasters 7 since the 198s (Fig. 5), mostly associated with cold wave events, floods, landslides, avalanches, droughts, fires and storms, which has resulted in more than 8,7 deaths. Developing preventive measures to limit infrastructure and property damage and increase institutional capacity, particularly for small businesses to respond to climate events, can be a source of decent job creation while building resilience. Figure 5. Natural disaster occurrence in Afghanistan, 196s 21s 6 5 4 3 2 1 196s 197s 198s 199s 2s 21s Note: Natural events include climatological, hydrological and meteorological disasters. 21s data are only for the first half of the decade. Source: ILO compilation using EM-DAT: The Emergency Events Database Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) CRED, D. Guha-Sapir www.emdat.be, Brussels, Belgium. Afghanistan ranks 176 of 18 countries in the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), with a score of 37.5 (with furthest from the high-performance benchmark target of 1). Agriculture and air quality are the only environmental EPI categories in which Afghanistan outperforms the average score for Asia and the Pacific (Fig. 6). 8 There is significant room for improvement in most of the environmental areas, especially in ecosystem vitality (in water resources and biodiversity and habitat) and environmental health (in health impacts, water and sanitation). Action to improve environmental health, ecosystem vitality, climate change and resilience to weather disasters have the potential to provide job creation, green economy growth and innovation in the country. Figure 6. Environmental Performance Index 216 for Afghanistan Environmental health (EH) EH Health impacts EH Air quality EH Water and sanitation Ecosystem vitality (EV) EV Water resources EV Agriculture EV Forests EV Fisheries EV Biodiversity and habitat EV Climate and energy % 2% Afghanistan score ( 1 best) Asia-Pacific average score ( 1 best) 4% 6% 8% Environmental health (EH) Note: Score 1 best. Afghanistan: No score for EV Forests, EV Fisheries and EV-Climate and energy due to lack of data. Asia-Pacific: Each score is an average of all data for ILO member States in the region, excluding four countries with no data (Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu). Source: ILO compilation using A. Hsu et al.: 216 Environmental Performance Index (New Haven, CT, Yale University, 216), www.epi.yale.edu. Rural population growth was 2.4 per cent in 215. The share of agricultural land in total land area remained stable between 1991 to 214, while agricultural employment increased from 2.1 million to 5.3 million. The share of agricultural employment in total employment fell by approximately 7 percentage points (2 14) due to faster job creation in other sectors (Fig. 7). There is minimal land devoted to forest and terrestrial protected areas, although both remained a stable proportion of total land area between 199 and 214 (Fig. 8). And although reliance on agriculture is heavy, there are opportunities for job creation for sustainable production. There will be increased prospects in the green economy, such as jobs in resource management and protection and natural resource utilization within public administration. Ecosystem vitality (EV) 5. Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft and United Nations University: World risk report 216 (Berlin, 216), http://weltrisikobericht.de/english/. 6. EM DAT: The Emergency Events Database Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) CRED, D. Guha Sapir www.emdat.be, Brussels, Belgium. 7. Climatological, hydrological and meteorological disasters. 8. Due to lack of data, it was not possible to calculate the score for EV Forests and EV Climate and energy. 3
Employment and Environmental Sustainability Fact Sheets 217 Figure 7. Agricultural land and agricultural employment, 1991 214 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1991 2 21 214 6 5 4 3 2 1 2nd axis (million) energy in total energy consumption has not kept pace with overall consumption; after peaking in 2 at 54.2 per cent, it declined steadily and was below 11 per cent in 211. It then edged up by about 6 percentage point over the next three years (Fig. 1). Renewable energy generation gradually increased from 211 to 215. The main source of renewable energy as of 215 has been hydropower (Fig. 11). There are no data available on renewable energy sector employment for Afghanistan. With increasing reliance on renewable energy and improvements in water and sanitation access, the utility subsectors will provide job creation opportunities in the future. Agricultural land (% of land area) Employment in agricultural (% of total employment) Agricultural employment (million, 2nd axis) updated 2 July 217, http://databank.worldbank.org/; ILOSTAT, http://www.ilo.org/ ilostat (accessed 3 July 217). Figure 8. Forest area and terrestrial land protected area, 199 214 2.5 2. 1.5 1..5. 199 2 214 Terrestrial protected area (% of total land area) Forest area (% of land area) updated 2 July 217, http://databank.worldbank.org/ (accessed 3 July 217). Since 1991, the percentage of the population with access to improved water supply has more than doubled, from 21 per cent to 55 per cent in 215. Improved access to sanitation, however, increased less rapidly, from 2 per cent in 1991 to 32 per cent in 215, and both access indicators remain significantly below the ideal threshold of 1 per cent (Fig. 9). In 214, only 17.3 per cent of the population relied primarily on clean fuel and technology. 9 The share of renewable Figure 9. Improved sanitation and water supply access, 1991 215 6 5 4 3 2 1 1991 2 21 215 Improved sanitation facilities (% of population with access) Improved water source (% of population with access) updated 2 July 217, http://databank.worldbank.org/ (accessed 3 July 217). Figure 1. Renewable energy share in total final energy consumption, 2 14 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 21 211 212 213 214 Source: ILO compilation using UN: SDG indicators: Global database (217), https:// unstats.un.org/ (accessed 17 July 217). 9. The proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology is calculated as the number of people using clean fuels and technologies for cooking, heating and lighting divided by total population reporting any cooking, heating or lighting, expressed as a percentage. Clean is defined by the emission rate targets and specific fuel recommendations (against unprocessed coal and kerosene) included in the normative World Health Organization guidelines for indoor air quality; see the data for household fuel combustion, https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/files/metadata-7-1-2.pdf. 4
P Employment and Environmental Sustainability Fact Sheets 217 Figure 11. Renewable energy generation, 211 15 Total renewable energy electricity generation (GWh) 747 838 891 647 548 211 212 213 214 215 Renewable energy electricity generation (GWh), by technology 215 Hydropower Marine Wind Solar Bioenergy Geothermal 2 4 6 8 1 Source: ILO compilation using International Renewable Energy Agency: Dashboards (217), http://resourceirena.irena.org/gateway/dashboard/ (accessed 17 July 217). Better data collection relating to the green economy and the environmental sector would be valuable for policy-makers in Afghanistan and other Asian-Pacific countries. Better data on green and decent jobs is particularly needed to assess the impact of climate change and climate-related policies on social inclusion. Without better data, it will be difficult to determine what policy changes are needed to assure a just transition to environmental sustainability and to monitor progress going forward. Disclaimer: The designations used in International Labour Organization publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Organization concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers 5