_SETHUSAMUDRAM SHIPPING CANAL PROJECT ____________________________________________
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A
mockery of science, conservation and environmental laws
Sudarshan Rodriguez
.
Public debate of the religio-political controversial issues surrounding
the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) have overshadowed the original
objections, namely its environmental, economic and social impacts.
Ecological significance
Adam’s Bridge, falls within the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve (GOMBR).
and is India’s largest biosphere reserve and has a covering the “Indian part of
Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka.”
and also ranks as India’s major coral reef ecosystems with 3,600 species of
flora and fauna, of which 377 are endemic famous for its chanks ) which
make Rameswaram one of the world’s largest shell trade and craft centres.
The 21 islands in the core zone of the GOMBR form the second Marine
park viz: the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park
. UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserve concept is conceived on the idea of oneness of
humanity transcending national frontiers and recognises the need for
conservation of vanishing species and habitats.
On completion of the SSCP, ships will be navigating through the biosphere
close to the park., as the canal at Adams bridge is just 20 km away from one of
these islands.
Moreover , most of the capital dredging is planned in the Palk Bay, which
affect the ecologically sensitive and has extensive sea grass meadows. They
serve as nurseries for fish stocks, and are essential grazing areas for turtles
and dugongs (also known as the sea cow:( a highly endangered species on the
verge of extinction).
, A leading expert on sea grasses and corals with the Nature Conservation
Foundation, says “the importance of the sea grass meadows of the Palk Bay and
Gulf of Mannar cannot be overstated, as they are a conservation hotspot of
regional and global relevance.”
The Palk Bay, with its unusually high sedimentation rate, is one of the five
permanent sediment sinks of India,. , The sediment sink and transport mechanism
in the region are yet to be fully studied before embarking on the project..
Strangely, all the project documents ignore this important knowledge of
sedimentation,
. Dredging Adam’s Bridge along a 300-metre wide stretch to make the canal
passage will have drastic consequences for marine ecosystems in the Palk Bay and
the Gulf of Mannar. This will allow sediments from the Palk Bay to flow
freely into the Gulf of Mannar, thereby affecting the corals and fisheries in
the Marine National Park and the whole biosphere reserve.
As they are sensitive to increases in sediment levels they will affect
their basic physiology, reproduction, recruitment, population and community
structure,” says Rohan Arthur in Review of the Environmental and Economic
Aspects of the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project .
Loss of wildlife
Besides the loss of wildlife, specifically protected species., as is
evident from its own documents the canal.
, the bottom flora and fauna on an area of about 6 sq km along the channel
alignment in Adam’s Bridge and about 16-17 sq km in Palk Bay/Palk Strait area
will be lost permanently due to dredging.. which will result in the killing of
corals, sea fans, sponges, and sea cucumbers, all of which are protected species
under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
I( Schedule I species, having the same status as given to a 'tiger ). It is
shocking that t according to the proponents of the project, it is an acceptable
price to pay.
Environmental lssues
The EIA did not have a dredging management programme. as is evident from the
L&T-Ramboll Detail Project Report (DPR) of (L&T-Ramboll DPR, Section
12.9.2 on page 12-11, bullet point 2). Besides, the EIA Environment Impact
Assessment )of the project also did not have a Disaster Management Plan (DMP), a
mandatory legal requirement. (Under Form A, Item 11 of the EIA notification,
1994 and the Ministr.
So far there is no DMP for the project . The project authorities have
stated on various occasions that the Tuticorin Port Trust’s (TPT) DMP would be
applicable for the project. The TPT’s DMP was developed only for the functioning
of the Tuticorin port, where ships navigated in the southern Gulf of Mannar
(around Kanyakumari) to Tuticorin and not further through Adam’s Bridge and Palk
Bay.
Many severe shortcomings in the project’s documents and design in terms of
data gaps with respect to basic parameters such as sub-surface geology,
bathymetry, and sedimentation process in the project area exist.. resulting in
the poor design of the project and inadequate assessment of risks, hazards and
environmental impacts.
It is beyond doubt that it will have disastrous consequences for the region’s
biodiversity, causing major and permanent losses to fisheries and livelihoods.
This leads to uncomfortable questions on why it ignored its own
conservation and environment laws. The relegation of the above-mentioned
environmental arguments against the SSCP, and the lack of scientific rigour in
the design and EIA of the project, represent a mockery of science,
conservation and environmental laws.
konthai
( Sudarshan Rodriguez is a Senior Research Associate at the Ashoka Trust
for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). _