Scientists write to President listing out ecological threats of Lakshadweep plan

The Lakshadweep Research Collective, a group of scientists and citizens, has urged the President of India to withdraw the proposed Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation of 2021 (LDAR) because it is “highly problematic and will work against Lakshadweep’s ecology, livelihood and culture”.

In a letter submitted to President Ram Nath Kovind on June 23 (Wednesday), the group listed support of 60 others from the scientific community to stress that the controversial changes proposed by Lakshadweep administrator Praful Khoda Patel under LADR are “not in consonance with existing laws” on land acquisition, rehabilitation, biodiversity and environment protection.

The signatories said that the island administration should respect and implement suggestions of the Justice Raveendran Committee, set up by Supreme Court, in 2015.

Lakshadweep is known for its corals, which have been badly impacted by climate change. “The archipelago is not just ecologically fragile but also socially progressive, and it needs a sustainable development framework,” the collective wrote in the letter.

“Anyone who has lived or worked in Lakshadweep for any length of time will be aware of its special vulnerability. Surrounded by ocean, barely a few meters above sea level, and with only the reef to protect it, it is clear that all development on these islands needs to be very carefully managed,” says Rohan Arthur, senior scientist with Nature Conservation Foundation.

Arthur said that repeated bleaching and intense storms have affected reefs in the region. “Given how linked land, lagoon and reef are in Lakshadweep, the development envisioned in the draft LDAR would be nothing short of disastrous,” he said.

The Lakshadweep Research Collective said that one of the biggest drawbacks of the proposed LDAR is that local islanders have been kept out of the decision-making processes.

“The communities of the Lakshadweep Islands practice forms of social living and collective action that has served them well against external adversity,” says Dr Naveen Namboothri, Director of Dakshin Foundation.

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Lakshadweep is a model for people-biodiversity coexistence. “Here is the place where we can actually try to recover coral reefs, seagrass beds and their communities, and yet operate a local commercial fishery,” said Dipani Sutaria, an ecologist studying marine mammals in the Lakshadweep with Divya Panicker and a team of islanders.

“Any drastic changes proposed for the islands without sensitivity towards the delicate balance between sea-people-land, need to be withdrawn,” added Sutaria.

Lakshadweep is home to ecological marvels that are unique to India and the world. It is a global ‘bright spot’ where high biodiversity persists alongside high human population density and well-being. It is a testament to a community that has for generations sustainably managed its atolls. “By dismantling customary resource use patterns, the LDAR threatens biodiversity and has negative implications for human well-being,” says Rucha Karkarey, a Royal Society Newton International Research Fellow.