KABUL - Climate change has become a precarious menace to the people of Afghanistan after temperatures in the southern regions of the country have increased by 2.4 degrees Celsius over the past century, according to a report released Thursday.

Temperatures went up in Hindu Kush regions by 1 degree Celsius, central and northern highlands by 1.6 to 1.7 degrees Celsius, and eastern regions of Afghanistan by 0.6 degrees Celsius, Alemarah, the website monitored by the Afghan caretaker government quoted Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) as saying on Thursday.

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"The persistence of these challenges has created numerous problems in urban and rural areas of Afghanistan, including increased poverty, migration, recurring droughts, floods, rising temperatures, destruction of farms and forests, food shortages, livestock deaths, and the emergence of various diseases," the report asserted.

The government has placed climate change management at the vanguard of its priorities and enhanced efforts to alleviate the situation with resources at hand, the source added.

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According to the NEPA report, climate change and frequent years of drought have deprived 21 million Afghans, almost half of Afghanistan's population, of access to potable water.