1 crore trees – not 8.5 lakh – could be cut for Great Nicobar project, one ecologist estimates

In 2022, the environment ministry granted the proponents of the Great Nicobar development project permission to deforest 130.75 sq km of forest land to build an international transhipment port, a township, a power station and an airport on the island. The government claimed that only 50% of this forest area, around 6,500 hectares, would actually be deforested, and that around 8.5 lakh trees would be cut.

However, according to calculations by a rainforest ecologist with three decades of experience, these deforestation figures are gross underestimates. The ecologist argued that there is a mismatch between government estimates of the density of trees in the Nicobar rainforest, and the estimates of reputed scientists and research institutes of the density of forests in the region.

The ecologist noted that if the government claims that 8.5 lakh trees are to be cut across 6,500 hectares, it is in effect claiming that there are 130 trees per hectare of the forest. This value for the density of the forest seems questionable, the ecologist argued. “This is the kind of density you would see in places like Gujarat or Rajasthan, where there are dry thorn forests, scattered trees with grass and shrubs,” said the ecologist who requested anonymity to ensure that the organisation they...

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