Lakshadweep, Jan 10:
Lakshadweep’s stunning pictures mask the precarious state of its environment, particularly the coral
reefs — making it important for the government to mandate and ensure responsible tourism practices
and also continuously monitor the fragile ecosystem of the archipelago.
The Lakshadweep archipelago, comprising 35 islands (of which 10 are inhabited) has witnessed four
major El Nino Southern Oscillation-related temperature anomalies in the past two decades (1998, 2010,
2016 and 2019), and three catastrophic cyclones in the last four years (Ockhi, Maha and Tauktae)
resulting in widespread coral bleaching and mortality, the Lakshadweep Research Collective, a team of
ecologists and marine biologists said in a letter to then-president Ram Nath Kovind in 2021, responding
to the administration’s publication of the draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation of
2021(LDAR).
The group, 60 scientists and researchers, asked the President to withdraw the draft LDAR 2021 which
sought to develop the islands as a major tourist destination, underlining that the region’s unique
geography, ecology, and long human history placed natural limits on the kinds of development the
archipelago can support. The draft has been put on hold since, but the constraints remain the same —
something that needs to be kept in mind at a time when interest in Lakshadweep as a tourist destination
is peaking.
