Indian Ministry of Shipping/X
A 3D modeling of the proposed port to be built on the remote island of Great Nicobar
“The forest is our supermarket,” says Anice Justin. “We get almost everything from the forests on these islands. This is how we survive.
Mr. Justin, an anthropologist, grew up in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, straddling India's east coast. A territory administered by the federal government, this ecologically fragile region includes 836 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The Nicobar Islands are a distinct group of islands in the southern part of the territory, located approximately 150 km (93 miles) south of Andaman Island.
Today, Mr. Justin watches with apprehension as India plans a multibillion-dollar, “Hong Kong-style” development project on Great Nicobar Island, one of the largest and most isolated from the Nicobar Archipelago.
Built with a budget of 720 billion rupees ($9 billion or £6 billion) and spread over 166 km², the project includes a transshipment port, a power plant, an airport and a new township, all designed to connect the region with crucial global trade routes. along the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal.
Located near the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, the project promises to boost international trade and tourism. The government estimates that some 650,000 people will live on the island when the project is completed in 30 years. .
Experts say the multibillion plan is also part of India's broader goal to counter China's growing influence in the region.
But the project has sparked concern among islanders who fear losing their land, culture and way of life, with the project risking pushing them to the brink of extinction.
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The Andaman and Nicobar Islands straddle the east coast of India
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are home to some of the most isolated and vulnerable tribes in the world, with five groups classified as “particularly vulnerable”.
These include the Jarawas, North Sentinelese, Great Andamanese, Onge and Sompen. While the Jarawas and Northern Sentinelese remain largely isolated, the Sompen – some 400 people – of the Great Nicobar Islands are also at risk of losing their way of life due to external pressures.
A nomadic tribe, most of them live deep in the forest where they feed to survive. Little is known about their culture because very few of them have ever had contact with the outside world.
“The loss will be particularly enormous and traumatic for them,” says Mr. Justin, who has documented the island since 1985.
“No matter what we call development in the outside world, they are not interested. They have their own traditional life. »
Environmentalists say the project will also incur huge environmental costs.
Spanning 921 km² (355.6 square miles), around 80% of Great Nicobar Island is covered in rainforests, which are home to more than 1,800 animals and 800 species of flora, many of which are endemic.
The Federal Environment Ministry said only 130 km², or 14% of the island's total area, would be cleared for the project – but that still represents around 964,000 trees. Experts warn the real figure could be much higher.
“The government still claims that only part of the forest will be cleared. But the infrastructure you build would lead to more pollution, which would impact the entire habitat,” says Madhav Gadgil, an environmentalist.
The Environment Ministry did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.
But Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav said in August that the project “would not disrupt or displace” tribal members and that it had received environmental clearances based on “the rigor of careful environmental review and after having incorporated substantial guarantees”.
However, not everyone is convinced.
Earlier this year, 39 international experts from different fields of social science warned that the proposed development would be a “death sentence” for the Shompen because it would destroy their habitat.
It's a fear that also haunts Mr. Justin: “The Shompen have neither the knowledge nor the means to survive in an industrial world,” he says.
Archaeological Commission of India
The island is home to the ancient, isolated Sompen tribe.
He fears this group could face the same fate as the Nicobarese, the island's largest tribal group, who were displaced in 2004, when a massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean wiped out their villages.
Over the years, the government has made efforts to resettle people in another region – but this too has come at a price.
“Most of the Nicobarese here are now manual laborers and live in a settlement rather than on their ancestral lands,” says Mr. Justin. “They have no place to farm or raise animals.”
There are fears that the project will also expose the Sompen to diseases.
“Isolated peoples have little or no immunity to external diseases like flu and measles, which can and do wipe them out – they typically lose about two-thirds of their population after contact,” says Callum Russell, head of Survival International, a conservation group.
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The project would impact Galathea Bay, which is home to a variety of marine life.
There are also other wider environmental concerns, particularly regarding the area's marine life.
Environmentalists warn of the effects on Galathea Bay, in the southeast of the island, which has for centuries been the nesting ground for giant leatherback turtles.
Dr Manish Chandi, a social ecologist, says the project will also affect saltwater crocodiles as well as the island's monitor lizards, fish and birdlife.
A government statement said these species' nesting and breeding grounds would not be altered.
But Mr Chandi points out that there are several other species that nest in large numbers in the region. “The government is proposing to move corals to places where they do not occur naturally. What will they do with these other species? »
Even though the project will take 30 long years, people can't help but worry about how it will irreversibly alter the delicate balance of the environment and the lives of the island's indigenous people.
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