India promotes ‘LiFE’ in COP27 but plans to divert 130.75 sq km of Forest in Great Nicobar

By Anuraag Baruah and Aayushi Sharma

On November 4, 2022, just two days before the start of the COP27, the Union Environment Ministry (MoEFCC) headed by  Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav granted the final Environmental Clearance for the diversion of about 130.75 sq km of forest in Great Nicobar Island for a mega development project. Incidentally, the Union Minister is also leading the Indian delegation at the UN Climate Summit, COP27, this time. Many criticized that the timing of both events could not get more significant and symbolic. 

Earlier on October 27, 2022, the Union Environment Ministry (MoEFCC) granted in-principle (Stage 1) forest clearance for the Great Nicobar Island project estimated at ₹72,000-crore that includes a transshipment port, a power plant (gas diesel and solar based), a military-civil dual-use airport, and a greenfield township. 

The project by Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO) will require the felling of around 8.5 lakh trees in the Great Nicobar island. About 15% of the forested area which is home to many rare species of flora and fauna will be affected. The proposed forest land diversion is the largest in recent years and is about one-fourth of the total forest land diverted (554 sq km) in the past three years across India.

Great Nicobar Island

The Great Nicobar Island is the last among the Nicobar Islands and is the southernmost part of the Indian territory. This makes its geographical location very important from a strategic and geopolitics point of view.  

It is closer to Myanmar and other southeastern nations than to the Indian mainland. In 2013 it was included in UNESCO’s biosphere program. This island has rich biodiversity and has “one of the best-preserved tropical rain forests in the world” as per the government of India notice. As per UNESCO,  it houses 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, bryophytes and lichens among others. The Shompen tribes living in the region are one of the least studied Vulnerable Tribal Groups in India.

This image shows the group of Nicobar Islands

Environmental Concerns due to the project

This proposed project is expected to lead to the cutting of over 852,000 trees and would adversely impact the biodiversity including species such as leatherback turtles, megapodes, corals, migratory birds and Nicobar crab-eating macaques. Moreover, it will impact the rare population of many flora and fauna species, along with the vulnerable tribal groups on the Great Nicobar island.

The project was considered for environmental clearance by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s expert appraisal committee. The committee in its report did not recommend environmental and coastal regulation zone clearance for this project and mentioned that more details are required to take a well-informed decision.

In 2021, large patches of coastal land area, including portions of the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve and Galathea Bay were de-notified (stripped of their protected area status) to make way for this project.

Social and Ecological Impacts

India’s National Marine Turtle Action Plan has listed Galathea Bay as one of the ‘Important Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Areas’ and ‘Important Marine Turtle Habitats’ in the country. It is even included in Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ)-I, the zone with maximum protection. 

Indigenous peoples such as the Shompen and Nicobarese of Great Nicobar will be greatly affected by the project. The proposed project areas are important foraging grounds for the Shompens, the hunter-gatherer nomadic community. 

An expert appraisal committee (EAC) has identified Menchal island as a site for the conservation of endangered Nicobar Megapodes. While the Galathea bay region which supports more than 20-30 pairs, is to be consumed by the container terminal. 

Other Risks Involved

In addition to the damage caused to flora and fauna, and social injustice to the tribal people, experts have highlighted that the project is likely to change the demography of that region as in an active seismic zone. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands come under the high-risk seismic zone V category, the most severe of all. 

In 2004, the region was struck by an earthquake of magnitude 9.3 on the Richter Scale followed by a tsunami that led to major damage to many areas in the region.  Another major quake in the future could cause the entire investment in infrastructure at risk, and the oil and chemical spill would create a major environmental disaster on the island that is renowned globally for its rich biodiversity. 

In January 2022, during the public hearing stage of the EIA project, Janki Andharia, Dean at the Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, wrote to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration giving scientific evidence which suggests that the proposed site where container terminal will be placed experiences about 44 earthquakes every year, since past 10 years. 

Compensatory Afforestation

Out of the 166.1 square kilometers (16,610 hectares) of land required for the project, 130.75 square kilometers is forest land for which a separate forest clearance has been sought. The final environmental impact assessment report prepared in March 2022, the cost of the compensatory afforestation to be Rs 970 crore. According to the final EIA report, the compensatory afforestation will be taken in Madhya Pradesh on 260 sq km of land. However, no other details are available on the same. A letter from the Andaman and Nicobar Forest Department certifies that the Government of Madhya Pradesh has submitted the details for afforestation.

Compensation claims to the tribes

It was assured in the public meeting that these particularly vulnerable tribal groups or the Shompen tribe will be eligible for compensation for the loss of their habitat. Also, there will be a package for their welfare and development ensuring their unique cultural identity, and heritage will be protected. 

Irreplaceable Loss 

Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Dean, School of Environment and Sustainability, IIHS Bangalore said that the loss of 130 sq km of high biodiversity and high carbon forest in Nicobar will be irreplaceable. 

“India, its government, citizens and civil society have a very good record of biodiversity conservation in spite of heavy odds. In the past, we have given up projects like the Silent Valley dam and Sethusamudram project on environmental, ecological and cultural grounds. The loss of 130 sq km of high biodiversity and high carbon forest in Nicobar will be irreplaceable.  Such a huge diversion of forest on an ecologically fragile, hydrologically sensitive and climate change-vulnerable island needs to be reconsidered. The project should be redesigned as ecological and environmental security are also in the national interest,” said Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy in an email to CFC India. 

Lifestyle for Environment?

Uday Mondal, a naturalist and citizen scientist from the Nicobar region, said that the Megaproject in Great Nicobar Island which has been granted Environmental Clearance on the 4th of November by the MoEFCC is reflective of how ignorant our leaders are towards the crises of climate change we are faced with. 

Mondal wrote in an email to CFC India, “At a time when we are getting news of extreme weather events from across the globe and are realizing our own vulnerabilities compounded by extremely unequal division of resources, signing off an already fragile island in the name of national security and economic growth will have devastating consequences. On one hand, our Environment Minister is promoting ‘Lifestyle for Environment’ at CoP27 while on the other, his Ministry has approved bulldozing about a million rainforest trees, 10 hectares of coral reefs, 20 hectares of mangroves on the basis of an unscientific and inadequate EIA report.”

“The implications of this decision on an island that has just begun showing signs of recovery from the massive tsunami of 2004, will be borne mostly by the two tribal communities who have called this island their home for over 40,000 years and some of the most unique species of flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world,” he added.

Mondal said that coupled with high seismic activity, extreme weather and the projected population of 70 times the current population of the island by the completion of this project, the pressure on the resources of the island will be massive. 

“The local changes in the environment and ecology of the island brought about by this project will worsen the situation of the fishing and farming communities of mainland settlers who compose most of the island’s population and don’t even have access to basic necessities like healthcare and educational facilities. Our leaders need to think hard about the consequences of another major earthquake once the island is stripped of its coastal forests. It’s like shunning one’s armor at the brink of a battle,” he further said. 

“As any other aware person of the current generation, it worries me that many parts of our country will become unlivable soon. Being an islander, I worry even more as we are more vulnerable and have nowhere else to go!” added Mondal. 

Threat to the Mangroves 

Radhika Bhargava, President’s Graduate Fellow, Ph.D. Candidate – Department of Geography, National University of Singapore and also a 2021 National Geographic Explorer, who has extensively researched on Mangroves globally, expressed concerns about the mangrove distribution in the project area in addition to the disturbance caused to the overall biodiversity and cultural hotspot represented by the Great Nicobar Islands. 

“Since mangrove forests are found in coastal areas, they are under threat of degradation, perhaps complete loss due to the project. Mangroves are known to provide key ecosystem services like protection from storm surges and sea level rise which are important factors of consideration given the location of the Great Nicobar Islands. The loss in services due to the destruction of mangroves cannot be compensated easily through diversion or plantation for many years,” Bhargava wrote in an email to CFC India.

Bhargava also expressed concern about the fact that the impact on mangroves would also cause pressure on the indigenous population of the islands due to the loss of food and livelihood resources. 

“The mangroves in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands make up 13% of the total mangrove cover in India and are considered one of the healthiest mangroves in the country, and the only ones representing biodiversity similar to Southeast Asia. It is important to protect the mangroves, and other ecological hotspots of Nicobar Islands as coastal development of this vast scale will be detrimental to not only the site but also beyond the scale or geography of the project,” Bhargava added. 

Also, reacting on the planned compensatory afforestation project in Madhya Pradesh, Bhargava said that it will not compensate for the biodiversity loss due to this project, specially in the case of mangroves, because the geography of Madhya Pradesh is completely different (land-locked state) from Nicobar (coastal islands).