First it was farmers and now it is flamingos. Yet another Tata project has run into rough weather, this time in Africa.
Tata Chemicals’ soda ash project at Kenya is ruffling quite a few feathers. Conservation groups claim that it threatens the survival of the entire East African population of lesser flamingos. The project involves mining 500,000 tonnes/year soda ash at Lake Natron in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya.
Conservationists say that the lake is the only East African site where the lesser flamingo has bred in the past 45 years.
A draft environmental impact assessment of the project has reportedly said the project would pose a significant environmental risk to the 500,000 lesser flamingos that breed there each year.
What would you like to see on your next Kenyan safari – a modern soda ash facility or thousands of pink birds?