‘The Great Nicobar Project Needs A Rethink’: Manish Chandi

The Great Nicobar is the largest island in the Nicobar archipelago and a global repository of both biological and cultural diversity. It is recognised as a biosphere reserve and is a unique space for India. The various natural ecosystems prevalent on the island are unique to it, and similarly, the cultural knowledge evolved and practised by its original island inhabitants—the Shompen and the Great Nicobarese—is equally unique. Both these facets are poorly understood and inadequately acknowledged, not just academically, but also as heritage that we barely understand.

The island, as part of the Andaman and Nicobar chain, lies in a geologically sensitive seismic zone and is characterised largely by undulating terrain, except for smaller patches of lowlands along its shore. The interior of the island consists of meandering valleys between steep hills that drain rainwater into the ocean. Given its relatively recent geological origin, the soil is enriched primarily by the forests it supports. Once those forests are removed, the soil—which is infertile beneath the surface and lacks a hard substrate—will erode substantially and remain unstable for large-scale construction without deep foundations to provide stability. The infrastructure proposed for development on the island will require constant investment and maintenance to serve the large population it is intended to support. Such large-scale development in a location far removed from the mainland will be financially intensive. These costs need to be factored into assessments of the economic viability of the proposed transshipment enterprise.

Various ecosystems, swamps and hillslopes will face tremendous transformation if this project comes through, and myriad species that inhabit and depend on these ecosystems will be affected. The range of species includes flora and fauna, including various endemic species that are still being discovered on the island. Fringing reefs that protect the shores will similarly be affected by sediments that will wash onto various parts of the shoreline, and not only at the site of Galathea Bay. As a large part of the eastern and southern landscape is proposed to be redeveloped and deforested, soil erosion will be rampant and the volume of sediment flowing into the sea will be pushed back towards the shore by wave action in various places, smothering and killing coral reefs. Oceanic currents, wave action and natural processes of attrition, deposition and tidal flux under the influence of the Indian Ocean are aspects that deserve far greater scientific attention and acknowledgement than they have received so far.

Corals in Galathea Bay will not only be the only area affected, a much larger expanse of fringing reefs will be impacted. It would be pertinent to ask how many coral colonies can realistically be restored and relocated, and where such relocation can take place when corals have already evolved naturally in certain areas and not in others. What sense does this idea make when huge sections of fringing reefs will be affected? Species such as the endemic avifauna, herpetofauna and flora will also take a severe beating.

The indigenous islanders are the only people who have evolved and know how best to survive on this forested island. Until today, there is still no documentation of the Shompen language, and not a single mainlander can converse with the Shompen in their own language. This is a very clear indication of how little we know and understand about the Shompen.

On the lack of information of indigenous communities over the past 50 years, even data and information on their visits have been poorly documented and remain underdeveloped and poorly understood. Moreover, the project proponents, as well as senior government officials, continue to deny their existence in the project area.

The project will clear previously untouched forests used exclusively by these communities and irreversibly destroy their habitat and livelihood resources. Despite these realities, senior officials continue to deny the scale of these changes and the destructive transformation that will affect the future of these communities.

Not at all. The environment impact assessment process itself has been acknowledged by a range of citizens with experience in such matters as a flawed and poorly conducted exercise—again, more lip service to facilitate the project than an effort to assess its costs and benefits vis-à-vis the natural environment and socio-ecological sustainability.

The mitigation measures being advocated are merely lip service to assuage readers of the reports and decision-makers. Ground realities are very different and the history of how infrastructure development and mitigation have been carried out on this island is evident in the current state of its socio-economic conditions. A close look at the island’s only hospital is a clear example of neglect and misplaced priorities affecting the settled population.

Apart from the struggle of the indigenous islanders, there are many more challenges that the settled population has faced and continues to experience. Beyond the indigenous communities, the assessment acknowledges the presence of a large number of megapode nests in the region, nesting populations of globally endangered Leatherback Turtles, coral reefs and fish habitats, swamps and riverine ecosystems that serve as breeding grounds for saltwater crocodiles, and forests that support a wide range of flora and fauna—yet these are poorly addressed in the environmental impact assessment process.

The geographic location of the island is indeed of strategic value in terms of monitoring international maritime traffic, both from an economic and a national-security perspective. The claim that this position can serve as a chokepoint is, however, questionable, given defence assessments and strategies envisaged by senior officers, as well as the capabilities of various nations in the region.

It would serve the nation best if defence requirements were given priority and the ability to strategically expand and develop facilities, rather than using the idea of defence strategy as a cloak to advance a commercial enterprise that may prove more of a liability than an asset. The economic viability of the proposed commercial enterprise is dubious at best.