CHITRAL, Feb 4: The construction of Lowari tunnel project has disturbed the alpine ecosystem of the area known for its thick deodar and fir forest, an expert says.

Talking to Dawn here on Friday, a biodiversity specialist attached with a public sector organisation, Ejaz Ahmed, said that during the course of tunneling, thousands of trees were chopped down. The digging work was carried out in large scale which cast a considerable effect on the local environment and damaged the local flora and fauna, he added.

He said that trees provided protective cover to the earth, shelter to the wildlife and regulated the temperature of the area. Mr Ahmed said that the wildlife fled the area when the excavation and blasting work was carried out and many local species of wolf, fox and bears left in search of a peaceful and safe habitat.

He named a number of local birds which had their breeding place around the tunnel on Chitral side due to the dense population of trees. Mr Ahmed said that the area had a rich variety of butterflies and the biodiversity specialists had recorded many rare endemic butterfly species like aporia nabellica hesba, colias alpherakyi chitralica. maniola davendrachitralica, hipparchia boloricus chitralica.

He added that even the butterflies had deserted their habitat after the work on the site was started five years ago. He said that the use of explosive materials and other chemicals had also caused soil pollution and effected the vegetation in the down area.

He said that the dumping of debris near the tunnel also changed the course of floods to the fertile soil, as was seen last year when hundreds of acres of land were washed away by flash floods.

Mr Ahmed said that the area had also been vulnerable to soil erosion due to the embankment of debris in the form of soil and rock pieces. He said that by proper planning, the aftereffects of project could have been minimised to a greater extent to save the local ecosystem.