Proposed Balda hills bauxite mine endangers rare Jeypore ground gecko and sparks Adivasi protests

UPDATE - follow-up to Mining project threatens future of rare Jeypore ground gecko: Only four individuals of the endangered Jeypore ground gecko have been documented in the past year in Odisha's Balda hills, the exact location of a proposed bauxite mining project by an Adani-linked group.

The Threat And Protests

The nocturnal, yellow-orange gecko measures about 3.6 inches long and was first described in 1878 by British naturalist Richard Henry Beddome. Presumed extinct for 130 years, it was rediscovered in 2010 in Odisha's Koraput district by herpetologists Ishan Agarwal and Aniruddha Datta-Roy. Today, Adani's proposed opencast bauxite mine covers 147 hectares of forest in the Balda hills within the Nageswari reserve forest. Resident Bondo and Porja Adivasis have protested the project for two years, lodging a complaint against Adani subsidiary Kalinga Alumina Ltd in February.

Expert Warnings

Naturalist Yuvan Aves stated that the government has refused to recognise forest rights applied for by local communities, and Adivasi residents recently stopped drone surveying by the Adani group. Ecologist Ishan Agarwal noted the gecko split from its closest relatives over 20 million years ago and faces threats from coffee plantations, hydropower projects, and mining. Renowned herpetologist Romulus Whitaker strongly advised against the Balda hills mine, warning it will destroy the habitat of this flagship species and other undescribed wildlife.

Context

The Eastern Ghats high-elevation forests host unique and fragile ecosystems that are increasingly pressured by industrial projects. Similar mining ventures in the past have caused local extinctions of rare species when natural habitats were permanently altered.