✓The Shompen tribal group had a population of 229 in 2011.
✓The Shompen live in India's Nicobar Islands.
✓The Great Nicobar Project is a transformative initiative aimed at enhancing connectivity and fostering economic growth.
✓The Great Nicobar Project has an investment in the range of ₹72,000 Crore to ₹92,000 Crore and aims for employment generation in key sectors like Port, Aviation, Tourism, and Township.
✓Over 8 lakh trees (estimates range from 7.11 lakh to nearly a million) and rare flora around Great Nicobar Island are to be cleared for the mega strategic project.
✓The Congress party and opposition politicians have voiced strong concerns about the project, including allegations of massive rainforest loss and displacement of tribals.
✓The government states the Great Nicobar project is for economic growth and strategic development.
✓Defence veterans say the Great Nicobar project is key for India's economic growth and military footprint, and its opposition will benefit China.
✓Environmental Impact Assessment Reports and Forest Advisory Committee observations (as interpreted by critics) indicate the project will cause massive deforestation and has big ecological risks.
✓The Great Nicobar Project creates severe environmental and social risks for one of India's last pristine ecosystems.
✓8-10 lakh trees may be lost, and forest fragmentation threatens biodiversity and ecosystem stability.
✓Endangered species like the leatherback turtle, Nicobar megapode, saltwater crocodile, and Nicobar macaque face severe habitat disturbance.
✓Dredging, shipping, oil spills, and underwater noise can destroy coral reefs, seagrass beds, and marine life.
✓The island is located in a high seismic zone, vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis, and coastal subsidence.
✓The project threatens the survival of the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes through disease, forced displacement, exposure, and loss of traditional lands.
✓Deforestation and mangrove loss are known to increase cyclonic impact, coastal erosion, and long-term climate risks, and these impacts are concerns for the project.
✓The area is a biosphere reserve recognized by UNESCO as a globally important ecosystem, and deforestation will happen there.
✓Great Nicobar Island is home to rare and endemic species found nowhere else on Earth.
✓Port construction, deforestation, and infrastructure development threaten the survival of unique species.
✓Leatherback sea turtle nesting sites are threatened by port construction, coastal lighting, dredging, shipping, and habitat disturbance, potentially causing population collapse.
✓Nicobar megapode is highly vulnerable to habitat loss, forest fragmentation, and coastal development.
✓Nicobar crab-eating macaque populations could be isolated permanently due to forest clearing, road construction, and habitat fragmentation.
✓Nicobar tree shrew habitat could be rapidly reduced by deforestation.
✓Saltwater crocodile breeding areas could be reduced due to disturbance of mangroves and coastal areas.
✓Nicobar parakeet nesting trees are threatened by logging and infrastructure.
✓Marine species (dugongs, giant clams, coral species) are at risk from dredging and shipping activities damaging fragile marine ecosystems.
✓Scientists are worried because Great Nicobar is an isolated evolutionary ecosystem, island species lose irreplaceable habitat, populations are small, extinction risk is high, and recovery may take centuries or never happen.
✓The Shompen and Nicobarese tribal groups are continuously against this project.
