• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
Oil and Gas, Buildings Drive 2.1% Rise in Canada’s Climate Pollution October 2, 2023
Shell CEO Doubles Down on Renewable Cuts Despite Internal Pushback October 2, 2023
Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds October 2, 2023
UAE Holds Major Oil and Gas Conference Before Hosting COP 28 Climate Summit October 2, 2023
Climate Change Brings Rapid Ice Loss to Antarctica, Arctic, Swiss Glaciers October 2, 2023
Next
Prev
Opinion & Analysis

India Coal Mining Plan Endangers Ecologically Sensitive Forests, Indigenous Way of Life

August 11, 2020
Reading time: 3 minutes

imtanvir/Pixabay

imtanvir/Pixabay

3
SHARES
 

India’s plan to boost an economy ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce its dependence on expensive coal imports is producing a moment of deep peril for the Hasdeo Arand, a biodiverse, ecologically sensitive forest in the state of Chhattisgarh, as the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi sets its sights on the five billion tonnes of coal beneath the surface.

“The coal industry in India is state-owned, but this auction of 40 new coal blocks will see the creation of a privatized, commercial coal sector in India,” The Guardian reports. “Among those bidding for it are India’s rich and powerful industrial giants, including the $14-billion Adani Group run by the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who operates India’s largest coal power plants and has close ties to Modi.”

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

The process of auctioning off the coal blocks “has pitted Indigenous people, ancient trees, elephants, and sloths against the might of bulldozers, trucks, and hydraulic jacks,” and “has already proved controversial at both the local and political level,” the paper adds. “At least seven of the coal blocks up for auction were previously deemed ‘no-go’ areas for mining due to their environmentally valuable status, and about 80% of the blocks are home to Indigenous communities and thick forest cover.”

The governments of Chhattisgarh and three other states have signalled their opposition to the project, and a block that overlaps a tiger reserve in Maharashtra has been taken out of the auction.

“If the government gave me the option to give up my life in exchange for no more mining happening in the forest, I would do it in a second,” said Amra, one of nine Indigenous village leaders who recently wrote to Modi with a demand that he stop the auction.

“If more mining happens everything will change; the natural resources will be gone, our way of life will disappear, everything will be under threat,” he told The Guardian. “We are tribal people, we cannot go out and live in the cities, and no amount of money can ever compensate us. There is no forest like this in the world. Cut it down and it can never be replaced.”

While United Nations Secretary General António Guterres recently said there is “no good reason for any country to include coal” in a post-pandemic recovery plan, Modi seems set on making India the world’s biggest exporter of the most polluting fossil fuel. “Yet with its 45% ash content, making it some of the most polluting coal in the world, there is unlikely to be an international market for Indian coal,” The Guardian says. For that same reason, domestic factories that run on coal would still have to import a cleaner product from elsewhere.

The move on Hasdeo Arand comes at a time when the pandemic is expected to drive down the country’s electricity demand more than 15% over the next five years, and state-run mines already have enough capacity to produce 20% more coal than the country will need through 2030, the UK-based paper adds. Modi himself inaugurated Asia’s biggest solar farm in Madhya Pradesh earlier this month, and environmental campaigners say the country could abandon coal completely by gradually increasing investment in domestic renewables, producing 1.6 million jobs by 2022.

But India’s joint secretary for coal, Maddirala Nagaraju, maintains domestic coal mining is the cheapest way to meet the country’s energy needs. “We are the country with the fourth-largest coal reserves in the world, and we need to provide energy security for over a billion people: coal is the only way,” he said. “Yes, some people have objected, but the mining will bring a lot of development, employment, and money to these areas. How else will we develop these Adivasi [Indigenous] people in central India?”

The Guardian has the full story here.



in Biodiversity & Habitat, Climate & Society, Climate Impacts & Adaptation, Coal, Community Climate Finance, First Peoples, Forests & Deforestation, Fossil Fuels, Health & Safety, India, Jurisdictions, Opinion & Analysis, Renewable Energy, Solar

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Dawn Ellner/flickr
Carbon Levels & Measurement

Oil and Gas, Buildings Drive 2.1% Rise in Canada’s Climate Pollution

October 2, 2023
1
Ramon FVelasquez/Wikipedia
Finance & Investment

Shell CEO Doubles Down on Renewable Cuts Despite Internal Pushback

October 2, 2023
1
Solarimo/pixabay
Ending Emissions

Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds

October 2, 2023
210

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Iota 9/Wikimedia Commons

‘Huge Loss’ for Local Green Economy as Vancouver Shutters Its Economic Commission

September 28, 2023
321
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
857
Solarimo/pixabay

Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds

October 2, 2023
210
Power lines, Mississauga, Canada

Two First Nations Groups Vie to Build Northern Ontario Power Line

September 28, 2023
174
Cullen328/wikimedia commons

Manufactured Housing Could Dent the Affordable Housing Crunch with Energy-Efficient Designs

September 20, 2023
728
McDonald's/flickr

McDonald’s Failing to Follow Through on Climate Promises, Critics Say

December 17, 2021
2.6k

Recent Posts

Dawn Ellner/flickr

Oil and Gas, Buildings Drive 2.1% Rise in Canada’s Climate Pollution

October 2, 2023
1
Ramon FVelasquez/Wikipedia

Shell CEO Doubles Down on Renewable Cuts Despite Internal Pushback

October 2, 2023
1
Northvolt plant in Sweden, Spisen/wikimedia commons

Quebec Lands $7B Battery Gigafactory Investment from Sweden’s Northvolt

October 2, 2023
1
Arctic Circle/flickr

UAE Holds Major Oil and Gas Conference Before Hosting COP 28 Climate Summit

October 2, 2023
3
GFDL/Wikimedia Commons

Clean Energy Funding Isn’t Just About Money, Policy Expert Warns

October 2, 2023
3
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Wikimedia Commons

Climate Change Brings Rapid Ice Loss to Antarctica, Arctic, Swiss Glaciers

October 2, 2023
2
Next Post
/Wallpaper Flare

Ecological Disaster in the Making as Oil Slick Spreads Off Mauritius Coast

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}