Uncontacted people on Indian island face genocide in the name of "mega-development"
The Shompen are one of the most isolated peoples on Earth. They live on Great Nicobar Island in India, and most of them are uncontacted, refusing all interactions with outsiders.
Numbering around 300 people, they are now at risk of being totally wiped out by a “mega-development” plan to transform their small island home into the “Hong Kong of India.”
Great Nicobar Island, is small but has extremely high levels of biodiversity. Around 95% of the island is covered in rainforest and it’s home to 11 species of mammals, 32 species of birds, 7 species of reptiles and 4 species of amphibians, all found only here. It’s a place where monitor lizards and crocodiles share the rainforest with macaques and tree shrews, where giant turtles swim among the coral reefs with dugongs and dolphins.
But
the Indian government is now planning to transform the Shompen’s small
island into the ‘Hong Kong of India', which will totally change their
lives forever. Its ‘Great Nicobar Project’ will have a devastating
impact on the lives of the Shompen and the neighbouring Nicobarese. As
neither peoples have given their consent to the scheme, it violates both
Indian and international law.
The authorities plan to create a mega-port; a city; an international airport; a power station; a defence base; an industrial park; and tourism zones, spread over more than 244 square km of land, including 130 square km of rainforest.
There is a petition to sign here but we also need to get the word around.
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