Such a fine balance….Bharati Chaturvedi
A radar station in Narcondam Island is bad news for indigenous hornbills
A radar station in Narcondam Island is bad news for indigenous hornbills
A flock of 300 endangered Narcondam Hornbills, which feature in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, face extinction if the Indian Coast Guard builds a radar station and a diesel power generation unit in the isolated Narcondam Island of the Andamans. The station, which has been proposed to monitor maritime activities, will lead to deforestation as the site for the radar is atop a hillock in the dense forest, increased human presence and acute shortage of freshwater. At a time when natural resources are losing to climate change, this plan amounts to ‘ecological harakiri’.
But this is not the only example of the man-animal conflict in India. There are other examples too: a proposed power plant near Tadoba-Andheri Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, commercial activities along the Orissa coast that pose a threat to the endangered Olive Ridley turtles and proposed dams in the North East which are sure to affect people and flora and fauna of the place.
It is undeniable that the country’s security is of utmost importance. However, the government, with the help of technology must come up with eco-friendly surveillance systems because the cost we will pay in future for ravaging our ecology will be much higher than investing in satellite surveillance.
The Narcondam Hornbill’s habitat and conservation is germane to the very survival of biodiversity. The isolated Narcondam Island, cut off from the larger sub-continent, has barely been explored. No one has any idea about the rich gene pool it stores, the wealth of diversity it contains, apart from this unique bird. We even don’t know how the devastation of the Hornbills – a certainty if the radar station is built – will impact this incredibly delicate eco-system.
In the aftermath of Rio+20, it is clear that we have hasten to protect our fragile planet from further damage. Every species we threaten reduces the robustness of human life itself. For all these reasons, the Narcondam Hornbill’s case is an open and shut one, every way we look at it. In the interest of larger security, the proposal to build the radar station must be scrapped.
Bharati Chaturvedi is director, Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group
The views expressed by the author are personal