By NE NOW NEWS
Guwahati: The Kaziranga Wildlife Society (KWS) has opposed the recent approval granted to Oil India Limited (OIL) for hydrocarbon exploration in the Upper Dehing Reserve in Assam’s Tinsukia district, calling for biodiversity-rich landscapes to be kept free from mining and drilling activities.
The approval, granted under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, involves the diversion of around 4.9 hectares of forest land in the Digboi Forest Division. The proposed exploration site falls within the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve, an ecologically sensitive landscape that serves as a key habitat and movement corridor for wild elephants.
In a statement, KWS said the Dehing Patkai rainforest remains Assam’s last major stretch of tropical rainforest and continues to face multiple threats, including coal mining, oil exploration, encroachment and illegal logging.
“These damaging activities have over the years eroded vast tracts of rainforest, and allowing any further polluting industrial activities within this invaluable yet fragile ecosystem will have long-term and irreversible consequences,” the organisation said.
KWS said protecting the state’s remaining natural forests was critical not only from an environmental perspective but also for maintaining ecological balance and safeguarding future generations.
The organisation highlighted the rich biodiversity of the Dehing Patkai landscape, which supports eight species of wild cats, several herbivores and carnivores, hundreds of bird species, and numerous plant species, many of which remain undocumented.
Environmental activist Mowsam Hazarika also opposed the project, describing the approval as alarming amid rising incidents of human-elephant conflict in the region.
He said drilling activities could further fragment habitats, obstruct elephant movement and intensify conflict between humans and wildlife.
Hazarika noted that the project would require the felling of around 135 trees in a forest area with a canopy density of 0.8, indicating a dense and relatively undisturbed ecosystem.
He further warned of environmental risks associated with access roads, drilling infrastructure and waste disposal, as well as the possibility of oil leakage and contamination affecting the area’s biodiversity.
According to Hazarika, the Dehing Patkai landscape supports more than 500 elephants, 47 mammal species and nearly 293 bird species. The region is also home to several threatened species, including tigers, clouded leopards, Chinese pangolins and Himalayan black bears.
While compensatory afforestation has been proposed elsewhere, Hazarika argued that such measures cannot offset the loss of a mature rainforest ecosystem.
He urged the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and other authorities to reconsider the decision in the interest of ecological conservation and sustainable development.
Often referred to as the “Amazon of the East”, the Dehing Patkai rainforest is regarded as one of the last remaining tropical rainforest ecosystems in Assam. Conservationists have repeatedly warned that disturbances in adjoining forest areas could affect the ecological stability of the wider Dehing Patkai landscape.