World Environment Day 2020: How raging issues in biodiversity-rich northeast India continue to be ignored

Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, Meghalaya (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Images of people vacationing in some scenic location, with lush green hills or snow-capped mountains in the background are all over social media. Videos of a gurgling river flowing through a calm forest or a kid's sketch of planet Earth, or maybe even a known personality planting saplings; yes it is #WorldEnvironmentDay.

Celebrated on June 5 every year across the globe, this time the theme is biodiversity – biological diversity or the variety of life on Earth. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar addressed a virtual celebration earlier today.

While people mark this day with a pledge to conserve, preserve and protect the environment, parts of India that are treasure troves of the country's biodiversity are at great risk. Yet, news about environmental disasters in the making in these areas hardly comes to light.

The northeastern part of India, one of the biodiversity hotspots, is a very good example of this conundrum. Several environmental issues are currently raging across states in the Northeast, of which, not many have even been heard. Let's shed light on some of those:

Coal mining in Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve-Assam

Only recently, the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) gave a go-ahead for coal mining on a portion of reserve forestland in the Saleki reserve forest, a part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve in Assam. A standing committee of the NBWL, which comes under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), had on April 7, discussed a proposal for the use of the land for a coal mining project by North-Eastern Coal Field (NECF), a unit of Coal India Limited (CIL).

"The proposed area is on a steep hill slope that is part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant reserve adjoining good forest area in the neighbouring state of Arunachal Pradesh which includes Deomali Elephant Reserve with a sizeable population of elephants," a member of NBWL's committee discussing the proposal had said.

The April 7 meeting of the committee took place virtually, under the chairmanship of Javadekar. The project has drawn a lot of criticism on the grounds that it will pose a severe threat to the wildlife in the area, especially as it is encroaching on reserve forests.

Also Read | Coal mining in rainforests will destroy Assam’s precious ecology

Taking suo motu congnisance against the mining proposal, the Gauhati High Court on June 4 reportedly issued notices to the Centre, the state and CIL.

Etalin Hydroelectric Project in Dibang Valley-Arunachal Pradesh

First envisaged in 2008, the Etalin Hydroelectric Project (EHEP) in the state's Dibang Valley, happens to be one controversial project among the many proposed dams in the region. EHEP has sparked debates on several fronts- the associated ecological damage, its location in a high-risk seismic zone and the displacement of tribal groups in the area.

Proposed to be a combination of two run-of-the-river projects, it involves the construction of concrete gravity dams on the Tangon and Dri tributaries of the Dibang. Around 1,150 hectares of forest land would be diverted and over 2.7 lakh trees would have to be cut down for the construction of the dam, as per a report by Hindustan Times.

Blowout at Baghjan oilfield-Assam

A blowout occurred at an oilfield at Baghjan in the state's Tinsukia district on May 27, following which natural gas has been leaking "uncontrollably" from the well for nearly 10 days now. There is a risk of any ignition leading to an explosion or a fire, to prevent which Oil India Limited (the company that controls the oilfield) is constantly pumping water to the well, it said in a statement on June 4.

Read More | Baghjan blowout: All you need to know about the 'uncontrollable' gas leak in Assam

What makes the gas leakage so worrisome is its location – it is not too far from the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park on one side and the Maguri Beel wetlands on the other. The blowout has reportedly caused damaged to tea gardens and water bodies in the area.

The clearing of forests for man-made projects, power generation, mining or even for agriculture (jhum or shifting cultivation) has been causing the loss of vast areas of forest cover, large-scale displacement of animals as well as the human population.

It seems ironical that sapling plantation drives are undertaken every year to commemorate World Environment Day, yet there is little or no awareness / opposition to the indiscriminate felling of trees in ecologically sensitive areas.