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I want to share with you a crucial story that gets to the heart of why independent journalism is essential.

1 crore trees – not 8.5 lakh – could be cut for Great Nicobar project, one ecologist estimates

The government is greatly understating the deforestation that the megaproject will entail, environmentalists say.

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In 2022, the government approved a major development project on Great Nicobar Island, allowing for the clearance of over 130 sq. kms. of ancient, dense rainforest to build a port, airport and township. Official estimates put the number of trees to be felled at 8.5 lakh, but our reporting shows that there are serious doubts about the accuracy of this figure.

Contrary to the government’s estimate of 130 trees per hectare, ecologists argue that Nicobar’s rainforest density is far higher, ranging from 500 to nearly 1,000 trees per hectare. Using this data, the actual number of trees likely to be lost is not 8.5 lakh, but anywhere between 32 lakh and 1 crore.

The project's official environmental impact report contains illegible or missing data, which prevents the public from fully understanding its environmental toll. Despite numerous requests for clarity, the environment ministry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation are yet to address these inconsistencies.

Their silence underscores the need for journalistic scrutiny.

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Special project: Help us report from the ground on the Great Nicobar Project . . Nearly a million rainforest trees. A tribe with just 400 members. A nesting site of the endangered giant leatherback turtles. All this and more is threatened by the Modi government’s plan to build an alternative “Hong Kong” on the Great Nicobar Island. . . Much has been written about the government’s Rs 72,000-crore proposal to construct an international airport, a transshipment terminal, a power plant and a township on the pristine island, 1,300 km from the mainland. But there has been no ground reporting from the island.. . How will the project impact the island’s indigenous communities, the Shompens and the Nicobarese? Have they even been consulted? What will be the ecological impact of the project, which will cover nearly one-fifth of the island?. . Help Scroll’s climate and land reporter Vaishnavi Rathore get to the Great Nicobar Island to report these stories..

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