The national demand for energy leads to the destruction of these animals’ habitat

Aug 3, 2012 09:55 GMT  ·  By

Just recently, India’s power grid could no longer cope with the country's electricity demands. The result: a major blackout that left millions of people in the dark. What environmentalists say: coal-generated energy is obsolete and needs be replaced by renewable power sources as soon as possible.

However, it seems that, in addition to importing significant amounts of coal, India's high officials might now be planning to push for local coal mining, hoping to both increase energy production and help bring down electricity costs.

As was to be expected, Greenpeace opposes this proposal and argues that, should India go for domestic coal mining, the country's tiger, elephant and leopard population will be severely affected.

Not to mention that other animal species that are not this popular – yet equally important for India's ecosystems –, will also have to suffer.

The organization's official website explains that mining operations carried out in just less than a third of the country's total coalfields will amount to as much as 1.1 million hectares of forest lands being utterly destroyed.

Greenpeace's report, “How Coal Mining Is Trashing Tigerland,” states that, “if saving the tiger and other wildlife is in fact a national priority, the government cannot ignore the threat posed by coal mining in Central India.”

Moreover, attention is drawn to the fact that local communities are also bound to be affected by the development of this dirty industry, as “It is well documented that the destruction of forest resources push such communities into deprivation, causes forced migration and further increases anthropogenic pressure on remnant forest areas.”

Although, given the recent power blackout that overtook the nation, we do understand India's urge to boost its energy production as soon as possible, but we hope that high officials might instead give due consideration to the possibility if investing in renewable power sources.