“Our supermarket is the forest,” Anstice Justin explains. The forests on these islands provide us with nearly everything. It is what keeps us alive.
Mr. Justin, an anthropologist, grew up on the east coast of India in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The ecologically sensitive area, which is governed by the federal government, is made up of 836 islands, just 38 of which are inhabited. Situated around 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of the Andaman Islands, the Nicobar Islands are a unique series of islands in the southern portion of the region.
As India prepares a multi-billion dollar “Hong Kong-style” development project on Great Nicobar Island, one of the biggest and most remote islands in the Nicobar archipelago, Mr. Justin watches with apprehension.
