In India, the preserved island of Great Nicobar threatened by a megadevelopment project

Satellite image of Galathea Bay at the southern tip of Grande Nicobar Island, in 2022. GALLO IMAGES VIA GETTY IMAGES 95% covered in primary tropical forests and mangroves, populated by endemic species, rich in lagoons, reefs coral reefs and white sand beaches, Grande Nicobar still constitutes one of the rare almost virgin lands in India. Located 1,800 kilometers from the southern tip of India, near the Malaysian and Indonesian coasts, it is the largest island in the Indian archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar and the southernmost.

It covers 910 square kilometers, but has only 9,000 inhabitants, including two isolated indigenous groups, the Nicobarese (around 1,000 members) and the Shompen (between 200 and 300), the only inhabitants of the island until 1969, before the arrival of soldiers installed by the Indian government in the 1970s. The Shompen, a community of nomadic hunter-gatherers living in the forest, are listed as a particularly vulnerable tribal group. Like the Sentinels settled on another island in the Andaman Sea, the Shompen are an “uncontacted” people, without interaction with the outside world. You have 83.41% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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