\u2705Last month, the MoEF&CC gave environmental clearance for a development project on the strategically important Great Nicobar Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705The project is to be implemented in three phases over the next 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Proposal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705A \u201cgreenfield city\u201d has been proposed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705An International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705A greenfield international airport<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705A power plant<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705A township for the personnel who will implement the project<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Andaman & Nicobar Islands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Cluster of ~ 836 islands in eastern Bay of Bengal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705The two groups of which are separated by the 150-km wide Ten Degree Channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Andaman Islands – north of channel, while Nicobar to south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Great Nicobar Island:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Southernmost of the Andaman and Nicobar Island<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Area of 910 sq km<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Indira Point – Great Nicobar – India\u2019s southernmost point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705< 150 km from the northernmost island of the Indonesian archipelago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Home to two national parks, a biosphere reserve<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Home to Shompen and Nicobarese tribal peoples<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Shompen – hunter-gatherers who depend on forest and marine resources for sustenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Nicobarese -lived along the west coast of the island – relocated after the 2004 tsunami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Tropical wet evergreen forests<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Mountain ranges – ~ 650 m above sea level<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Many endangered species are found on the island .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Flagship species – Leatherback sea turtle<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Concerns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Ecologically important and fragile region<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Loss of tree cover may affect the flora and fauna<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Increased runoff and sediment deposits in the ocean<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Impacting the coral reefs in the area<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2705Loss of mangroves as a result of the development project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Developing Great Nicobar: strategic imperative, ecological concerns- \u2705Last month, the MoEF&CC gave environmental clearance for a development project on the strategically important Great Nicobar Island. \u2705The project is to be implemented in three phases over the next 30 years. \u25cf Proposal: \u2705A \u201cgreenfield city\u201d has been proposed \u2705An International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) \u2705A greenfield […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":894,"featured_media":127101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1755],"tags":[1797],"class_list":["post-127100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-upsc-important-topics","tag-upsc-daily-important-topic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127102,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127100\/revisions\/127102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}