The Mopa airport project is a case study on how biodiverse regions in India are under constant threat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated Goa’s second international airport at Mopa village, in the northern part of the state. With it, a long-running saga that ran through most of my environmental journalism career comes to an end. Yet, there is no better example of how wilful ignorance, disrespect for scientific findings and weak regulation impact India’s natural world.
The issues raised by the project are important, especially so at a time when countries are negotiating a new global agreement on biodiversity. Nations are figuring out a so-called 30x30 goal: 30% of the earth under some form of natural …
Nihar Gokhale led the Chaos coverage at The Morning Context. Nihar wrote on the environment, the economy and resource conflicts in India. He has reported from across the country on everything from displacement, pollution and environmental violations to land regulation, corruption and human rights. He was earlier associate editor at Land Conflict Watch, and his work has appeared in Scroll, The Wire, IndiaSpend, The Caravan and Mongabay India.
Editor, Chaos
nihar@mailtmc.com
Delhi