The lack of forests in Great Nicobar Island on the Bay of Bengal will probably be compensated by afforestation in Haryana’s Aravallis, officers of the setting ministry have mentioned. The Aravallis is over 2,400 kmaway in a special ecological zonefrom Great Nicobar, however guidelines enable for such distant compensatory afforestation.
Major infrastructure initiatives have been deliberate within the ecologically fragile Great Nicobar. The Centre on November 11 granted environmental clearance to an International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT), a 450 MVA gasoline and solar energy plant, an airport and related townships over 166.1 sq km in Great Nicobar Island, in line with paperwork seen by HT.
The venture will contain diversion of round 130.75 sq km of forest land in three phases. The complete land space of Great Nicobar Island is 910.074 sq km and round 15% of forest space will probably be diverted for the initiatives. The complete space required for the proposed venture is 166.1 sq km, in line with the clearance letter issued by the setting ministry.
“The project proponent (M/s Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Ltd) has proposed to conduct the compensatory afforestation of the project in the Haryana Aravallis. They have had meetings with Haryana government already for plantations over Aravalli region in an area of around 260 sq km,” a ministry official mentioned, looking for anonymity.
“This may be very beneficial for control air pollution in the national capital region. If more land is needed, then afforestation will be taken up in Madhya Pradesh also, in addition to Haryana,” he added. Haryana has forest cowl of solely 3.63%, in line with the Forest Survey of India.
The Great Nicobar Island proposal was thought-about within the 293rd assembly of Expert Appraisal Committee held on March 24 and 25, 2022, and once more within the 297th assembly of EAC held on 24 and 25 May, 2022. Based on a response submitted to some queries raised by the EAC, the proposal was once more positioned within the 306th assembly of EAC held on August 22 and 23. Terms of Reference for the venture was granted on May 25, 2021 in line with the ministry letter to venture developer.
The EAC had raised considerations concerning the environmental influence of the venture, in line with the minutes of the panel’s assembly dated April 5 and 6 accessible on the Parivesh web site. “The Committee notes that the site selection for the port component has been done keeping primarily the technical and financial viability in place. The environmental aspects were not given much weightage while selecting the site. The Island has a large number of endangered species, including Leatherback Turtle at the Galathea Bay,” the minutes mentioned.
The abstract of the venture on Parivesh web site states the port will enable Great Nicobar “to participate in the regional and global maritime economy by becoming a major player in cargo transhipment. The proposed airport will support both the maritime sector and the tourism sector, which will attract international and national tourists to Great Nicobar to experience the outstanding natural environment and participate in sustainable tourism activities”. The complete venture is value ₹75,000 crore.
AECOM India, a Gurugram-based guide, had ready the pre-feasibility report for Niti Aayog, as per paperwork on Parivesh portal. The report mentioned 4 interlinked initiatives will add appreciable socioeconomic worth at a comparatively low social and environmental value.
“The ICTT and Power Plant project sites are uninhabited. Only the airport project requires resettlement, and the number of affected persons is low. The large majority of the existing corals have been avoided… The urban development will be kept on a small footprint along the edges of the island that are least frequented by the Shompen and the Nicobarese (indigenous people).”
“The project is strategically important for India and hence it was given absolute priority. Only the area of strategic importance has been allowed to be developed. The Greenfield airport for greater connectivity with Great Nicobar is yet to be cleared,” the ministry official mentioned, including that numerous situations have been imposed on the venture proponent to make sure minimal environmental influence.
Among numerous situations proposed by EAC to scale back environmental footprint of the venture, three new wildlife sanctuaries have been recognized — Leatherback turtle sanctuary of 13.75 sq.km at Little Nicobar Island; Menchal Island of 1.29 sq.km as a Megapode Sanctuary; Meroe Island of two.73 sq.km as a Coral Sanctuary.
Great Nicobar is a crucial habitat for saltwater crocodiles. The crocodiles have been sighted in Magar nallah, Dillon nallah, Vijay Nagar, Laxminagar, Galathea bay and Navy Dera within the venture space previously and likewise in Casuarina Bay and Alexandria Bay within the west coast falling outdoors the venture space. Wildlife Institute of India has ready a ‘Conservation & Management Plan of Salt Water Crocodile in Great Nicobar Island.’
The port space has been directed to position sequence of ecological marker buoys for each 200 m alongside the proposed prolonged breakwater line. Such an association will clearly mark the ‘area to be avoided to aid turtles,’ the EAC has mentioned.
“As per forest norms, compensatory afforestation may not be carried out in states with over 75% forest cover. They should be carried out where forest area is less. Andaman and Nicobar has over 82% forest cover. Where can one conduct compensatory afforestation there? Haryana has very low forest cover so it has been selected,” one other senior official of the forest conservation division mentioned.
On May 22, 2019, the setting ministry had issued tips to all state governments, stating that states and UTs having forest land of greater than 75% regardless of the full geographical space shall not be insisted on offering non-forest land equal to the forest space diverted. Compensatory afforestation could be taken up in every other state or UT having poor forest land.
“Offsetting the loss of forests across ecologies or geographies has been legitimized by the design of India’s compensatory afforestation mechanism,” mentioned Kanchi Kohli, authorized researcher at Centre for Policy Research. “This has made it possible to decontextualize forest loss and compensate for it anywhere within the country.”
Under the Forest Conservation Act 1980, each time forest land is diverted for non-forest functions similar to mining or trade, the venture developer is meant to determine non-forest land of an equal space and likewise pay for planting forests over this, or when that’s not accessible, on twice the realm of degraded forest land.
