Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

UN agency coordinating agricultural and food security response in Afghanistan alongside Asian Development Bank. - Launching major food security initiative amid winter crisis

Heavy snow and rainfall killed at least 61 people across Afghanistan between January 22-24, 2026, with 110 injured and 458 homes destroyed across 15 of the country's 34 provinces. Earlier that month, flash floods triggered by the season's first heavy rains killed at least 17 people on January 2, destroying over 1,800 homes in western provinces. The Salang highway—a vital artery connecting Kabul to northern provinces—remains closed to heavy vehicles under meters of snow, while power outages continue across Kabul and 10 provinces after avalanches destroyed a 220-kilovolt transmission tower importing electricity from Uzbekistan.

Updated Feb 5

UN agency that compiles national forest statistics and maintains a different definition of 'forest' than satellite-based tree cover measurements. - Primary source of government-reported forest statistics

For decades, the dominant narrative held that global forest cover was declining. A 2018 study in Nature upended that assumption: satellite data from 1982 to 2016 showed the world's tree canopy grew by 2.24 million square kilometers—an area larger than Mexico. The net gain of 7.1% came despite ongoing tropical deforestation, with expansion in Russia, China, Europe, and the United States more than offsetting losses in the Amazon, Congo, and Southeast Asia.

Updated Jan 22