An Indian port similar to Hong Kong may wipe out an ancient tribe

“The forest is our supermarket,” says Anestis Justin. “We get almost everything from the forests on these islands. This is what we live on.”

Justin, an anthropologist, grew up in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands off the east coast of India. A federally administered area, the ecologically fragile region consists of 836 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The Nicobar Islands are a distinct group of islands in the southern part of the territory, located about 150 kilometers (93 mi) south of the Andaman Islands.

Now Justin watches with fear India's plans for a multi-billion-dollar “Hong Kong-style” development project on Grand Nicobar Island, one of the largest and most isolated parts of the Nicobar archipelago.

Built on a budget of 720 billion rupees ($9 billion or £6 billion) and spanning 166 square kilometres, the project includes a shipping port, power station, airport and new town, all designed to connect the region to vital global trade routes. Along the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal.

The project is located near the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, and promises to boost international trade and tourism – the government believes around 650,000 people will live on the island by the time the project is completed in 30 years. .

Experts say the multi-billion-dollar plan is also part of India's larger goal to counter China's growing influence in the region.

But the plan has alarmed islanders who fear losing their land, culture and way of life, as the project threatens to push them to the brink of extinction.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are home to some of the world's most isolated and vulnerable tribes, with five groups classified as 'particularly vulnerable'.

These include the Jarawa, North Sentinelese, Great Andamanese, Ong, and Chompin. While the Jarawa tribe and the northern Sentinelese Islands remain largely isolated, the Shumbeen tribe – with a population of about 400 people – in the Greater Nicobar Islands are also at risk of losing their way of life to external pressures.

A nomadic tribe, most of whom live deep in the jungle where they forage for food to survive – not much is known about their culture as few have had any contact with the outside world.

“The loss would be huge and especially traumatic for them,” says Mr. Justin, who has been documenting the island since 1985.

“What we call development in the outside world does not matter to them. They have a traditional life of their own.”

Environmentalists say there are also huge environmental costs to the project.

Spread over an area of ​​921 square kilometers (355.6 sq mi), about 80% of Great Nicobar Island is covered by rainforest, which is home to more than 1,800 animals and 800 plant species, many of which are endemic.

Only 130 square kilometers, or 14% of the island's total area, will be cleared for the project, but that is still about 964,000 trees, the federal Environment Ministry said. Experts warn that the actual number may be much higher.

“The government always claims that only a portion of the forest will be cleared. But the infrastructure it is building will lead to more pollution, which will in turn affect the entire habitat,” says Madhav Gadgil, an ecologist.

The Ministry of Environment did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

But Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav said in August that the project would “not disturb or displace” tribal residents, and that it had received environmental approvals on the basis of “rigorous environmental auditing and after incorporating subsequent safeguards.”

However, not everyone is convinced.

Earlier this year, 39 international experts from various fields of social sciences participated to caution The development project would be a “death sentence” for the Shombeen people because it would destroy their homeland.

It's a fear that haunts Mr. Justin, too: “The Shumbeen people don't have the knowledge or the means to survive in an industrial world,” he says.

He worries that the group may face the same fate as the Nicobaris, the island's largest tribal group, which suffered displacement in 2004, when a massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean destroyed their villages.

Over the years, the government has made efforts to resettle people in a different area – but that too has come at a cost.

“Most of the Nicobaris here are now manual laborers and reside in a settlement rather than on their ancestral lands,” says Justin. “They have no place to grow crops or raise animals.”

There are concerns that the project may also expose the shampin to disease.

“Isolated peoples have little or no immunity to outside diseases like influenza and measles that can and do wipe them out,” says Calum Russell, of Survival International, a conservation group. “They typically lose about two-thirds of their population after contact.” .

There are other broader environmental concerns too, especially regarding marine life in the area.

Environmentalists warn of the impact on Galatea Bay on the southeast side of the island, which has been a nesting place for giant leatherback sea turtles for centuries.

Dr Manish Chandy, a social ecologist, says the project is proposed in an area that is home to saltwater crocodiles, island monitors, fish and birds.

A government statement said that the nesting and breeding places of these species will not change.

But Mr. Shandy points out that there are many other species that nest in the area — such as leatherback sea turtles, coral reefs and giant robber crabs — that may be displaced.

Although the project will take 30 long years to complete, people can't help but worry about how it will irrevocably change the delicate balance between the environment and the lives of the island's indigenous people.

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