Congress says Great Nicobar project endangers UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve

Parliamentary debate has intensified over the Great Nicobar Island Development Project, with opposition voices arguing that the project poses an existential ...

What Happened

Parliamentary debate has intensified over the Great Nicobar Island Development Project, with opposition voices arguing that the project poses an existential threat to the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve — a UNESCO-designated site under the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme.
The ₹72,000 crore (approximately $8–10 billion) project, conceptualised by NITI Aayog and implemented by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO), proposes an International Container Transhipment Terminal at Galathea Bay, a Greenfield International Airport, a gas and thermal power plant, and an urban township to accommodate up to 650,000 people.
Key ecological concerns include: felling of up to 852,000 trees across approximately 130 sq km of tropical rainforest; destruction of coral reefs and marine ecosystems at Galathea Bay; impact on nesting sites of the giant leatherback turtle — one of the largest sea turtle nesting grounds in the Indian Ocean; and seismic vulnerability (Seismic Zone V).
Critics have also pointed out that the proposed compensatory afforestation in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh is ecologically meaningless as a substitute for the unique evolved ecology of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Environmental clearances have been challenged on procedural and substantive grounds, including the adequacy of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the involvement of expert committees.

Static Topic Bridges

Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve and UNESCO MAB Programme

The Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve was designated as part of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme in 2013. The reserve covers approximately 103,870 hectares (about 1,039 sq km), representing roughly 85% of the island's landmass, and encompasses tropical rainforests, mangroves, freshwater streams, and surrounding marine ecosystems.

The MAB Programme, established by UNESCO in 1971, creates a global network of biosphere reserves aimed at promoting sustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science.
Biosphere reserves are structured in three concentric zones: a Core Zone (strictly protected, no human activity), a Buffer Zone (limited research and education), and a Transition/Cooperation Zone (sustainable human activities).
The Great Nicobar reserve is home to over 650 plant species, more than 330 bird species, and rare fauna including the saltwater crocodile, giant robber crab, and the Nicobar megapode.
The Shompen and Nicobarese peoples, the island's indigenous communities, are classified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) and hold special constitutional protections under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and provisions of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956.

Connection to this news: The development project requires diversion of forest land and alteration of the buffer and transition zones of the biosphere reserve, raising questions about India's obligations under UNESCO's MAB guidelines and domestic wildlife and forest protection laws.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Clearance Process

India's Environment Impact Assessment framework, governed by the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and the EIA Notification, 2006 (amended in 2020), requires prior environmental clearance (EC) for projects likely to have significant environmental impact.

Category 'A' projects — those with large-scale impacts or those in ecologically sensitive areas — require clearance from the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and a prior public hearing.
Stage I forest clearance requires approval from MoEFCC's Forest Advisory Committee (FAC); Stage II clearance follows completion of conditions imposed at Stage I.
The EIA Notification, 2020 Amendment (challenged in courts) sought to reduce the scope of public consultation and post-clearance violations; critics argued it diluted procedural safeguards.
For projects in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, additional tribal and coastal zone regulations apply, including the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification and Tribal area protections.

Connection to this news: The Great Nicobar project's environmental clearances, granted by MoEFCC, have been questioned on adequacy grounds — specifically whether the EIA adequately assessed cumulative and long-term impacts on an isolated island ecosystem with no ecological equivalents elsewhere.

Giant Leatherback Turtle: Schedule I Wildlife Protection

The giant leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the world's largest sea turtle and an endangered species classified under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 — the highest level of domestic legal protection. Galathea Bay on Great Nicobar is one of its most important nesting sites in the Indian Ocean region.

Schedule I species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 cannot be hunted, possessed, or traded, and their habitats cannot be altered without stringent legal justification and mitigation.
Leatherback turtles are globally listed as Vulnerable (downlisted from Endangered in some regional assessments) on the IUCN Red List; Indian Ocean nesting populations are critically small.
Nesting sites require undisturbed dark beaches; artificial lighting from port and township infrastructure causes disorientation of hatchlings navigating toward the ocean.
The proposed transhipment terminal would directly overlay the primary nesting beach at Galathea Bay; the EIA's suggestion of turtle translocation has been widely criticised by marine biologists as operationally unproven at scale.

Connection to this news: The destruction of Galathea Bay's nesting habitat is among the most ecologically irreversible impacts cited by critics of the project, as no compensatory measure exists that can replicate the function of a primary leatherback nesting beach.

Seismic Risk and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

Great Nicobar Island sits in Seismic Zone V — India's highest seismic hazard classification — and lies along the Sunda Subduction Zone, the same fault system responsible for the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (magnitude 9.1–9.3) and tsunami.

The 2004 tsunami caused parts of Great Nicobar to subside by up to 3 metres, altering coastlines and inundating ecosystems permanently.
Seismic Zone V designation means the area is highly susceptible to very severe ground shaking; large infrastructure projects require specific seismic-resistant engineering standards.
Critics have argued that building major port, power, and urban infrastructure at the southern tip of an earthquake-prone island exposed to open ocean swell involves compounded risk of loss in a future major seismic event.
The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago experiences regular minor seismic activity due to its position near the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plate boundary.

Connection to this news: Seismic and tsunami risk is a structural limitation on the long-term viability of the project that critics argue was not adequately assessed in the EIA relative to the scale of investment and the vulnerability of a remote island location.

Strategic Rationale: India's Maritime Security and the Strait of Malacca

The project's proponents argue that Great Nicobar's location — approximately 90 nautical miles from the Strait of Malacca, through which about 80% of India's oil imports and a large share of global trade transit — gives it exceptional strategic value for naval logistics, maritime domain awareness, and transhipment services.

India currently lacks a deep-water transhipment port; approximately 75% of India's transhipment cargo is handled at Colombo, Singapore, and Port Klang (Malaysia), with associated revenue leakage.
A transhipment terminal at Galathea Bay would target a share of the estimated 1.5–2 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) market in the region.
The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) is India's only tri-service military command, headquartered at Port Blair; the project includes enhanced naval and coast guard facilities.

Connection to this news: The tension at the heart of this story is between India's legitimate strategic and economic interests in the Andaman Sea and the irreversible ecological cost of industrial-scale development on one of Asia's last near-pristine tropical island ecosystems.

Key Facts & Data

Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve: designated UNESCO MAB site in 2013; area approximately 103,870 hectares (1,039 sq km).
Project cost: approximately ₹72,000 crore ($8–10 billion); implementing agency: ANIIDCO.
Forest diversion proposed: approximately 130 sq km; trees to be felled: up to 852,000.
Giant leatherback turtle nesting site at Galathea Bay: one of the most important nesting beaches in the Indian Ocean; species listed under Schedule I, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Seismic Zone: Zone V (highest hazard category in India's seismic zonation map).
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake caused up to 3 metres of subsidence on parts of Great Nicobar.
Shompen and Nicobarese peoples: classified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
India's share of global transhipment cargo handled domestically: approximately 25%; 75% handled at foreign ports.