Save the turtles

Rishabh

An estimated 1,40,000 species are becoming extinct every year, which is 383 species extinct everyday!! And 13 million hectares of forest being lost globally due to deforestation, which is 35616 hectares of forest lost every day!!!  Do we really want to add to these figures? At least I don’t.

But this is exactly what TATA, Larsen and Toubro, and the Indian government seem to be doing. Tata in collaboration with L&T is constructing a port in Dhamra, Orissa one of the largest in India. But the problem is its close proximity to the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, which is the world’s largest remaining nesting ground for the Olive Ridley Sea turtle, a species classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Between 200,000 and 500,000 female turtles nest here every year, and the port is less than five kilometers from the boundaries of the Bhitarkanika National Park, which itself contains an abundance of rare wildlife species and an amazingly lush and biodiverse mangrove forest ecosystem, all of which are threatened by this port development scheme.

The location of the port also runs contrary to a 2002 directive of the Ministry of Environment, based on the government of India’s National Wildlife Action Plan, that a radius of 10 kms from all existing parks and sanctuaries be declared ‘eco-sensitive areas’ and large-scale industrial development be kept away from these areas. Additionally, the central governments own guidelines for industries ask that they be located at least 25 kms away from national parks or sancturies.

So what exactly are these people doing? By looking at these facts, we can clearly see how these companies and the government are much more interested in making money than in India’s environment and bio diversity, and it is the same environment which keeps us alive and we are simply going to endanger or harm it just in the name of development. What is development and it certainly does not mean anything if that development is endangering species in that area which would consequently harm us.

On June 8, 2007, Greenpeace released a scientific report prepared by the North Orissa University that unequivocally established the ecological significance of the mud flat ecosystem of the port site. The study makes the case that there is need for abundant caution, besides highlighting the high likelihood of turtles in the waters near Dhamra, which was later justified by satellite tracking studies by Wildlife Institute of India.

TATAs have always maintained that they will reconsider the port, if the evidence of turtles in the area is established. In addition, there are other significant findings, such as that the mudflats (actual port site) are a mating and nesting ground for Horseshoe crabs and a rare species of frog. But the company has refused to re-examine its plans, while continuing to maintain that they will not harm the environment or endangered species, without responding to either the specific concerns that are being raised or new evidence presented.

So even with concrete evidence of the perils of the development of the port in Dharma, the company has ignored them and now is only looking in its self interest rather than the whole interest of the community being affected by the development of the port.

Another issue is the probable impact on livelihoods of thousands of fishermen in the region. The construction of the port and dredging in particular could result in the destruction and pollution of breeding and spawning grounds of fish, leading to a situation where the fisherfolk cannot fish in their own local areas which would severely affect these people but still the state government of Orissa and the central government at Delhi is supporting the development.

The time to act is now, before it’s too late because the last hope is us, the ordinary people who have to come together to achieve something extra ordinary and stop the development of the port which is clearly damaging the environment and the diversity around it, we are the last hope for the survival of the Olive Ridley turtles, horseshoe crabs, the forest, livelihoods of the fishing community in that region and finally our survival because if this port succeeds in its development then later many more like this will come up, which  would surely be frowned upon but  it would be too late and then we would look back at these days when we could have done something , but we chose not to.

-Rishabh Gupta