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Dear reader,
As a journalist covering land and climate for Scroll, I have been closely following the Modi government's plans to establish an "alternative Hong Kong" on Great Nicobar Island.
Last year, I reported on a startling aspect of this project: to compensate for the loss of nearly a million rainforest trees with the “world's largest curated animal safari park", proposed to be established more than 3,000 km away in Haryana through compensatory afforestation.
I pieced together the stories from my desk in Delhi, using information shared by the Haryana government, interviews with experts and letters written by the leaders of the island's Shompens and Nicobarese tribes. These communities weren't consulted about the project and now face unprecedented displacement, social upheaval and environmental degradation.
Despite this, the crucial voices of its Adivasi groups have travelled to the mainland only sparingly. You can help us fix this.
Please click below to contribute to our special reporting project today.
Your generosity will help me travel to Great Nicobar, interview residents and officials and capture rare visuals of its threatened ecology.
Sincerely,
Vaishnavi Rathore
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