Photo courtesy: Bibin Joseph
Photo courtesy: Bibin Joseph

Is an Adani port devastating Kerala’s coast?

Activists say coastal communities and marine life around Kerala’s Vizhinjam Port are paying a heavy price for the Adani Group project

Bibin Joseph is a cinematographer and editor based in Kerala, India. He works as the creative director of The Tree Creatives. He directs and executes visual media projects.

The rich marine ecosystem of Vizhinjam, Kerala is under threat due to the construction of the Vizhinjam international seaport by Adani Ports under a public-private partnership model with the government of Kerala.

" … This area is home to 400 different types of crabs. So, it is in such a biodiverse area with a variety of species, including between species and within species, that the dredging and groyne construction is going on," says Johnson Jament, a research associate at the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex.

"This is to be viewed as not a developmental project but an ecological disaster," notes Thara K G, former head of the Disaster Management Centre at the Kerala government's Institute of Land and Disaster Management.

Environment and citizen activists have also raised questions on procedural lapses that led to getting environmental clearances on the project. Several years into the project, environment activists allege that the construction has led to a decline in the marine ecosystem and exacerbated coastal erosion in the region.

Reporter/Camera: Bibin Joseph

Edit/Producer: Sana Amir

Translations: Bobin Kuriakose

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