PESHAWAR, Nov 4: The unrelenting US bombing on Afghanistan is playing havoc with the biodiversity of the war-devastated country, which has been a prime sanctuary for variety of migratory birds and wild animals.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has estimated 85 per cent decrease in the number of migratory birds due to air strikes, coming from Siberia and Central Asian Republics (CARs) to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan.

To gauge the impact of the US bombardment on the wildlife, particularly the water-birds, the WWF recently sent its survey team to Bannu, Gambila and the River Kurram in the southern parts of NWFP, where these sensitive migratory birds including cranes and ducks stay for a transitory period in winter.

“Cranes are very sensitive and they do not use the route if they sense any danger. Likewise, if a crane loses its mate, it takes more than five years to find a new mate,” experts in wildlife observed.

Afghanistan, a landlocked country, was very rich in flora and founa. But the decades long war caused massive depletion to forest resources and wildlife species. In 1983 the forest-covered area of the country was 3.4 per cent, which reduced to 2.6 per cent in 1989, according to official figures.

Save the Environment Afghanistan (SEA), an Afghan NGO, in its report disclosed that the prolonged civil war followed by severe drought drastically affected forests and wildlife in Afghanistan.

According to the report, the Ajar valley wildlife reserve in central Afghanistan, Band-i-Amir National Park, Abe-Estada, the only breeding place of the greater Flamingo in Afghanistan and Lake Hashmat Khan to south east of Kabul, which is the habitat of waterfowl were in critical condition.

Feeling threat to the survival of snow leopards, the International Snow Leopard Trust, based in Washington State appealed to halt bombing. The wild animal, conservators believed, was the indicator of high altitudinal habitats. If snow leopard exists in an area, it means other biodiversity also exists, wildlife conservators said, adding that the specie was found only in 12 countries including Afghanistan.

WWF chief technical advisor in Peshawar Ashiq Ahmad Khan told Dawn that like human beings, wildlife was also affected by the severe bombardment on Afghanistan. He said that US warplanes were pounding positions in the south, north and west of Afghanistan, which are sanctuaries for variety of wild species including Kabul Markhor, snow leopards, Houbara Bustard, falcons and water-birds.

Roughly, he said, 90 per cent of the water-birds entered Pakistan from Afghanistan. Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad were the main routes for migratory birds, which were being targeted by the US planes.