India’s southernmost territory, the rainforest-clad island of Great Nicobar, lies 1,300 kilometres from the mainland. This small island is home to the Indigenous Shompen tribe, one of the world’s most isolated communities. There are only a few hundred members, and most have no contact with outsiders.
Like all ‘uncontacted’ tribal people, the Shompen are among the most vulnerable societies on Earth: they rely solely on their forest and can’t survive without it. They also have no immunity to outside diseases – the flu could wipe them out. This makes India’s new ‘Development Plan’ for the island all the more alarming.
