Forest destruction, Andaman Islands 1

When a president comes visiting.
This is a picture of the New Wandoor Beach where tens of huge casuarina and coconut trees were cut a couple of years ago for a helipad for a visit for the President Pratibha Patil. For a detailed story on what happened you can look up http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2008/01/visit-and-aftermath.html

Large scale sand mining on the coasts has led to massive erosion and as seen in this case loss of considerable stretches of littoral forests. This is a 1998 picture from Hut Bay, Little Andaman Island

An elephant and a log. This is a 1998 picture of the Timber yard in Hut Bay, Little Andaman Island. Large scale logging that was going on since the 1970s was finally stopped in Little Andaman following Supreme Court orders in 2001. Related issues and the developments leading to the court orders can be read in 'Troubled Islands' the book published in 2003 that is a compilation of my articles that appeared in different publications from 1998-2003. If you are interested in getting copies do write to me at psekhsaria@gmail.com