Great Nicobar Project: India’s Hong Kong-like port may wipe out ancient tribe

“The forest is our supermarket,” says Anice Justin. “We get almost everything from the forests on these islands. It is what we survive on.”

Mr Justin, an anthropologist, has grown up within the Andaman and Nicobar islands straddling India’s east coast. A federally-administered territory, the ecologically-fragile area consists 836 islands, of which solely 38 are inhabited. The Nicobar Islands are a definite group of islands within the southern a part of the territory, positioned some 150 km (93 miles) south of the Andaman Island.

Now Mr Justin watches with trepidation as India plans a multi-billion ‘Hong Kong-like’ growth mission on the Great Nicobar Island, one of many largest and most secluded elements of the Nicobar archipelago.

Built on a funds of 720bn rupees ($9bn or £6bn) and unfold over 166 sq km, the mission features a transshipment harbour, an influence plant, an airport and a brand new township, all designed to hyperlink the realm to essential international commerce routes alongside the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal.

Positioned close to the Strait of Malacca, one of many busiest transport lanes on the earth, the mission guarantees to spice up worldwide commerce and tourism – the federal government reckons that some 650,000 folks can be dwelling on the island by the point the mission is accomplished in 30 years.

Experts say the multi-billion plan can also be part of India’s bigger objective to counter China’s rising affect within the area.

But the scheme has sparked alarm among the many islanders who worry the lack of their land, tradition, and lifestyle, with the mission threatening to push them to the brink of extinction.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are residence to a number of the most remoted and susceptible tribes on the earth, with 5 teams labeled as “particularly vulnerable.”

These embody the Jarawas, North Sentinelese, Great Andamanese, Onge, and Shompen. While the Jarawas and North Sentinelese stay largely uncontacted, the Shompen – some 400 folks – of the Great Nicobar Islands are additionally prone to dropping their lifestyle resulting from exterior pressures.

A nomadic tribe, most of them reside deep contained in the forest the place they forage for survival – not a lot is understood about their tradition as only a few of them have ever had contact with the surface world.

“The loss will be especially huge and traumatic for them,” says Mr Justin, who has been documenting the island since 1985.

“Whatever we call development in the outside world is not of interest to them. They have a traditional life of their own.”

Environmentalists say there are also huge environmental costs of the project.

Spread across 921 sq km (355.6 sq miles), around 80% of the Great Nicobar island is covered with rainforests, which are home to more than 1,800 animals and 800 flora species, many of which are endemic.

The federal environment ministry has said that only 130 sq km or 14% of the total area of the island will be cleared for the project – but that’s still about 964,000 trees. Experts warn the actual number could be much higher.

“The government always claims only a part of the forest will be cleared. But the infrastructure you’re building would lead to more pollution, which in turn would impact the entire habitat,” says Madhav Gadgil, an ecologist.

The environment ministry did not respond to BBC’s request for comment.

But Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav in August had said that the project “will not disturb or displace” tribespeople and that it had acquired environmental clearances based mostly on the “rigour of environmental scrutiny and after incorporating consequent safeguards”.

Yet, not everyone seems to be satisfied.

Earlier this yr, 39 worldwide consultants from completely different fields of social sciences had warned that the event mission could be a “death sentence” for the Shompen as it will destroy their habitat.

It’s a worry that haunts Mr Justin too: “The Shompen people do not have the knowledge or the means to survive in an industrial world,” he says.

He worries the group may meet the identical destiny because the Nicobarese, the largest tribal group on the island, which suffered displacement in 2004, when a large tsunami within the Indian Ocean worn out their villages.

Over the years, the federal government made efforts to resettle the folks to a unique space – however that too got here at a value.

“Most Nicobarese here are now manual labourers and stay in a settlement instead of their ancestral lands,” Mr Justin says. “They have no place to grow crops or keep animals.”

There are fears that the project could also expose the Shompen to diseases.

“Uncontacted peoples have little to no immunity to outside diseases like flu and measles which can and do wipe them out – they typically lose around two thirds of their population after contact,” says Callum Russell, an official at Survival International, a conservation group.

There are other wider environmental concerns as well, especially about the marine life of the region.

Ecologists warn of the effect on the Galathea Bay on the south-eastern side of the island, which has been the nesting place for giant leatherback sea turtles for centuries.

Dr Manish Chandi, a social ecologist, says the project will also affect saltwater crocodiles and the island’s water monitors, fish and avifauna.

A government statement has said these nesting and breeding grounds of these species would not be altered.

But Mr Chandi points out that there are several other species which nest in the area in large numbers. “The government is proposing to translocate corals in locations where they are not found naturally. What are they going to do with these other species?”

Even although the mission would take 30 lengthy years to complete, folks can not help however really feel anxious about the way it will irreversibly alter the fragile stability of each the atmosphere and the lives of the island’s indigenous folks.

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