From the endangered Black Throated Finch in Australia to endangered gangetic dolphins and elephants in India, Adani’s coal projects are destroying critical habitat, killing iconic species and fuelling the extinction crisis.
Adani’s track record shows we can’t trust this company to protect wildlife or the critical habitat on which they depend. In Australia, Adani has breached their environmental approval conditions seven times, including by illegally clearing wildlife habitat without conducting wildlife surveys. Adani’s coal is threatening key species and pushing wildlife to the brink of extinction.
In Australia, Adani’s Carmichael coal mine cleared critical habitat for the endangered Black Throated Finch despite warnings from expert ecologists that this could send this bird extinct. In 2020, Adani was prosecuted and found guilty of illegal land clearing on the mine site, and was fined again later that year for bulldozing species habitat without conducting surveys, putting threatened species at risk.
Adani’s Indian coal projects are also forcing iconic Indian wildlife populations to the brink.
In North East India, the construction of Adani’s Godda power station, the final destination for coal from Adani’s Queensland coal mine, is threatening critically endangered species. Water intake from the sacred Ganges river for Adani’s Godda power station in Jharkhand could impact the mighty but critically endangered gharial crocodile, and the critically endangered gangetic dolphins, both of which depend on this river for survival.
In the state of Chhattisgarh, Adani’s Hasdeo Arand coal mines and coal rail line are destroying critical habitat for elephants, leopards and sloth bears. The impact on elephant habitat is particularly noticeable as important migration routes in the forest are cut by Adani’s projects, causing elephants to come increasingly into contact with local communities, increasing elephant - human conflicts in the local area.
Goa is home to the Mollem national park and this area has been declared by UNESCO as one of the world’s greatest biodiversity hotspots. Here you can find leopards, Bengal tigers, pangolins, black panthers, gaurs and more species you can’t find anywhere else on the planet. The precious forests that house these animals will be subject to deforestation as they are divided by three invasive projects which locals say will benefit Adani: a coal railway line, a road expansion and a transmission line. Adani has been increasing its coal imports through Goa’s only port and the community in Goa fear that these projects are designed to benefit Adani by making coal transportation easier for this global coal giant.
Near Chennai, Adani is proposing a mega-port expansion right near vital wetlands, ecologically fragile sand dunes and the Pulicat Wildlife Sanctuary. This port, which will handle coal transportation amongst other goods, will devastate this fragile coastal environment. This port will trigger erosion of the Pulicat sand barrier which shelters the wetlands from the ocean, merging the lagoon with the Bay of Bengal and destroying this precious coastal environment. Over 200 species of birds are protected in the Pulicat Bird Sanctuary here, including greater Flamingos.
Not only are Adani’s coal interests having a direct impact on wildlife populations, Adani’s coal is driving climate impacts which are wiping out whole wildlife populations. We know mining and burning coal causes climate change, leading to worse bushfires, droughts, floods and heatwaves. These climate impacts are bringing death and displacement to wildlife populations around the world.
The catastrophic bushfires over the 2019 - 2020 black summer killed or displaced three billion animals, and decimated koala populations with some local populations losing over 70% of their koalas. As Adani expands their coal footprint and drives ever more disastrous climate impacts, Adani’s coal threatens wildlife around the world.
