Exclusive: Oil Drilling in Assam National Park Can Put Biodiversity at High Risk

In a setback to Oil India, a study by a scientific body finds the risk of oil drilling on biodiversity as 'high'.

A fire at Baghjan oil field in Assam's Tinsukia district in May 2020 had resulted in thousands of people losing their livelihood in the nearby regions.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@rituparnabhuyan/Altered by The Quint)

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Oil India Limited wants to drill at seven locations inside a national park in Assam. This after a blowout, explosion, and fire lasting more than five months in May 2020 resulted in the loss of an estimated 55 percent of the biodiversity in the Dibru-Saikhowa landscape in Assam's Tinsukia.

A file photo of smoke billowing from a fire at Baghjan oil field in Assam's Tinsukia district in May 2020.

(Photo: PTI)

Thousands of people had lost their livelihood in the nearby regions – and the area is yet to fully recover from the impact. It also explains why the Supreme Court in 2017 had directed that a Biodiversity Impact Assessment should be conducted by the Assam State Biodiversity Board for any future drilling.

The Assam State Biodiversity Board enlisted the support of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for the study, in view of the fact that the “said organisation is an internationally reputed organisation having expertise in the area of conservation of rare, threatened, and endangered species of flora and fauna across the world."

The study (which this reporter has access to) was prepared in July 2023 and was submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 19 July this year, which is currently hearing the matter.

In what may be a setback to the plans for Oil India, the report asserts in clear terms that "the overall risk on biodiversity is high".

The 300-page report has an exhaustive assessment of all the rich flora and fauna in the area where Oil India wants to drill. The study area is characterised by distinct ecological features, including tropical evergreen forest, tropical semi evergreen forest, and seasonal swamp forest.

The Oil India representative, in response to the IUCN report after it was submitted in court, said on 18 July, "Learned Counsel for the Oil India Limited submits that he has not received the copy of the Biodiversity Impact Assessment Study Report."

Biodiversity Assessment Lists Many Areas of Ecological Importance as ‘High Risk’

The report lists several places of ecological importance, such as the Maghori Beel, which is a “valuable natural capital for the region, providing critical habitat to numerous species, especially resident and migratory birds."

"It serves as a fisheries resource to local communities as well as a flood buffer and a water and sediment regime regulator, hence this wetland regime is a critical part of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, an ecological corridor to Namdhapa National Park, and sustains the ecological integrity of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot," the report adds.

A screenshot of the report showing biodiversity impacts.

(Courtesy: From a technical report prepared by Assam state Biodiversity Board and IUCN-India)

The IUCN report then identifies different species found in the region and finds more than “86 species of trees, 57 shrubs, 152 herbs, and 47 Pteridophytes were recorded under flora" and "147 species of birds, 112 species of butterflies, 10 species of mammals, six species of Herpetofauna, and 19 species of fishes were recorded under fauna.”

The Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, where Oil India wants to do exploratory drilling, is rich in bird life and one of the sites "in the northeast where highly endangered and elusive species have been observed."

This report identifies and outlines potential impacts on the environment that could be anticipated from the planned oil and gas exploration drilling activity in ERD (extended reach drilling) surface locations in the Baghjan Petroleum Mining Lease through a biodiversity matrix. The study uses the biodiversity matrix to assess the impacts of the project. The risk is then summed up based on their severity.

As three of the identified risks – Impact 10 (that involves removal of vegetation), Impact 15 (that involves an increase in vehicular traffic with truckloads of material carried in and out), and Impact 16 (damage to existing flora) – fall in the ‘severe category’ in the biodiversity risk matrix, it can be concluded that the overall risk for the given study on biodiversity is ‘high’.

Locals Speak

The IUCN study, in addition to its scientific data collection, also conducted interviews with local people.

The local people mentioned biodiversity that exists outside the boundary of the national park, such as the Barekuri Hoolock Gibbon Park, which has 22 families of gibbons in the homestead plantation of the village as well as slow loris and leopards in tea plantations.

The IUCN study then goes on to suggest mitigation measures such as avoidance of movement of heavy vehicles through the rich forest areas and monitoring of species, such as the Gangetic dolphin, especially during the drilling phase.

Golaghat resident Bimal Gogoi, who is a petitioner in the case filed in the NGT, told this reporter, “I have filed this petition because Oil India has stated that their activities will be outside the national park, but they will draw in resources and impact what is inside the national park, and hence my objections”.

Meanwhile, another concerned citizen – Dr Ranjan Das, former vice principal of Tinsukia College and an experienced naturalist – told this reporter, “The Dibru-Saikhowa National Park has seen a lot of depletion of its natural cover over the years for many years. Oil India has been operating within close proximity to the park in the past as well. Obviously, there are bound to be negative impacts. I am an optimist, and I am sure given proper restoration, the area can be saved”.

In December 2020, the Gauhati High Court stayed the permission given to Oil India for hydrocarbon exploration at seven locations inside the protected area due to environmental concerns.

With the area already having witnessed two blowouts in the past – and severe damage from the 2020 blowout and fire that lasted over five months – the chance of another accident is far from remote. The NGT on 18 July asked, in light of this new Biodiversity Impact Assessment report prepared by IUCN, whether the environmental clearance granted to them needs to be "re-examined/reconsidered”.

The report has made one fact clear. The fate of the biodiversity of the Dibru-Saikhowa landscape hangs in a perilous balance.

(Bahar Dutt is an award-winning environment journalist and conservation biologist.)