Developing Great Nicobar: strategic imperative, ecological concerns-
✅Last month, the MoEF&CC gave environmental clearance for a development project on the strategically important Great Nicobar Island.
✅The project is to be implemented in three phases over the next 30 years.
● Proposal:
✅A “greenfield city” has been proposed
✅An International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT)
✅A greenfield international airport
✅A power plant
✅A township for the personnel who will implement the project
● Andaman & Nicobar Islands:
✅Cluster of ~ 836 islands in eastern Bay of Bengal.
✅The two groups of which are separated by the 150-km wide Ten Degree Channel.
✅Andaman Islands – north of channel, while Nicobar to south.
● Great Nicobar Island:
✅Southernmost of the Andaman and Nicobar Island
✅Area of 910 sq km
✅Indira Point – Great Nicobar – India’s southernmost point.
✅< 150 km from the northernmost island of the Indonesian archipelago.
✅Home to two national parks, a biosphere reserve
✅Home to Shompen and Nicobarese tribal peoples
✅Shompen – hunter-gatherers who depend on forest and marine resources for sustenance.
✅Nicobarese -lived along the west coast of the island – relocated after the 2004 tsunami.
✅Tropical wet evergreen forests
✅Mountain ranges – ~ 650 m above sea level
✅Many endangered species are found on the island .
✅Flagship species – Leatherback sea turtle
● Concerns:
✅Ecologically important and fragile region
✅Loss of tree cover may affect the flora and fauna
✅Increased runoff and sediment deposits in the ocean
✅Impacting the coral reefs in the area
✅Loss of mangroves as a result of the development project.