Dear All, Please see the attached flier for the upcoming talk by Pankaj Sekhsaria about a massively destructive project in the Nicobar islands. Basic info appended below also. Apologies for cross-posts. Vandana Teachers Against the Climate Crisis (TACC) Welcomes you to the 32nd talk in our series E nacting farce as environmental governance - The story of the Great Nicobar mega infrastructure project Monday, 17 th April 2023 @ 6:00 pm IST By Pankaj Sekhsaria , Associate Professor, IIT Bombay Use the following Zoom link to join. All are welcome. [ https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/97081618519 | https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/97081618519 ] About the talk : In a set of developments that have unfolded with uncharacteristic speed and co-ordination over the last two years, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) recently cleared the decks for a mega Rs. 72,000 crore infrastructure project in Great Nicobar Island. It involves the construction of a port, an airport, a power plant, and greenfield township in a land and seascape that is extremely rich biologically, is home to indigenous communities that have been living here for thousands of years and is located in the world’s most seismically volatile zone. 130 sq km of pristine tropical forests are to be diverted leading to the cutting down of an estimated one million trees. Central to the forest clearance condition for the project is compensatory afforestation in Haryana located more than 2,000 km away. The presentation will track the history of this project and present an account of the multiple ecological, procedural, and legal violations in allowing for it to be cleared. It raises crucial questions about the viability and relevance of compensating tropical forests by tree plantations in faraway semi-arid ecologies. How is such huge forest loss justified in the era of an intensifying climate crisis? Pankaj Sekhsaria is the author of five books on the Andaman & Nicobar islands including his debut novel The Last Wave (Harper Collins India 2014), Islands in Flux – the Andaman and Nicobar Story (Harper Litmus 2019), a collection of 20 years of his journalism about the islands, and most recently Waiting for Turtles (Karadi Tales 2021), his first book for children. He has a Master’s degree in Mass Communication and a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from the Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He is a long-time member of the environmental action group, Kalpavriksh and currently, Associate Professor, Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), IIT Bombay. His new books in the broad field of Sociology of Technology include Instrumental Lives: An Intimate Biography of an Indian Laboratory (Routledge 2019) and Nanoscale: Society's Deep Impact on Science, Technology and Innovation in India (Authors Upfront 2020). Format: 45 mins, then Q&A. About the group : Teachers Against the Climate Crisis (TACC) is a non-funded, non-party organization that seeks to promote understanding and engagement about different aspects of the climate crisis among students, teachers, and activists. To engage with our work, and get to know of future talks, visit [ https://teachersagainstclimatecrisis.wordpress.com/ | https://teachersagainstclimatecrisis.wordpress.com/ ] . Twitter: @climateTACC