Olive Ridley Turtles

Tata's lawyers say 'game over' for cheeky turtle game

Posted by jamie — 6 August 2010 at 11:26am - Comments

Tata's port project could spell game over for a major turtle nesting site © Greenpeace

Guest blogger Ashish Fernandes, oceans campaigner from our New Delhi office, explains how corporate giant Tata is taking legal action against Greenpeace India over an online turtle game.

It's been five years since Greenpace India started its campaign against the Dhamra port project on the east coast of India which threatens a host of wild species including horseshoe crabs and crocodiles. The port happens to be a stone's throw away from one of the world's largest nesting sites for the olive ridley sea turtle and India's second largest mangrove forest, which is a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance to boot.

The port is nearly built, but it's clear that we're still a huge thorn in the side of the company behind this ecological disaster, the giant TATA Steel corporation, which is a 50-50 stakeholder in the project. In the UK, the TATAs are known for their takeovers of steelmaker Corus, Tetley Tea and the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

Tata's turtles

Posted by jossc — 20 March 2009 at 6:10pm - Comments

Sea turtles have been nesting at Gahirmatha on the Orissa coast of India for hundreds, possibly thousands of years. But if we don't act now, we could see this change within a decade – an eye blink in geological timescales.

A new port being built at Dhamra, near Gahirmatha, will push the endangered olive ridley sea turtle closer to the slippery edge of extinction. The main threat to the turtles is posed by dredging to make a channel deep enough for large ships to anchor.

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