The economic development made possible by India’s abundant mineral resources has often come with a high ecological price tag. Land development and infrastructure construction; mineral extraction and ore processing and transportation of finished product often result in habitat loss and fragmentation, watershed degradation, and deforestation, all of which have serious implications on the health and a values of natural ecosystems. Experiences from ecological assessment of developments in mining sector (WII 1997 and 2005) suggests that extractive technological progress has not been conducive to biodiversity conservation because it has invariably resulted in the reallocation of more natural capital from the economy of nature to the commercial economy.

The problems have been particularly recognized to be more acute with mining projects because the spheres of influence of the projects are often larger than the confines of the project sites and therefore mining projects invariably lead to spatially defined conflicts of interest between the mining sector and the conservation community. These conflicts are bound to be obvious as economic considerations force mining companies to extract mineral resources from all possible reserves including those located in remote and ecologically sensitive areas, while the conservation community views such mining operations as obstructive to conservation and protection of wildlife resources that are being incessantly threatened due to increase in consumptive patterns and population and incompatible land use practices.

The problem is more compounded in India because the mother earth here, has complimented biodiversity rich areas and habitats of critically endangered species of highest conservation priority with equally rich deposits of mineral wealth. The Central and Eastern Himalayan regions, that also happen to fall within the catchments of rivers Ganges and Brahamputra, not only support the best biodiversity of the country but also have rich deposits of limestone and petroleum respectively. Similarly, the Chota Nagpur plateau and the Maikal range that feed five major rivers including Narmada support both the stately Sal forest and the richest deposits of bauxites in the country. Even Gir, the only abode of last surviving population of Asiatic lion in the world, happens to be a rich repository of limestone. The Thar Desert and arid zone in Rajasthan that offer the best habitats for the resident and migratory birds also hold adequate reserves of the zinc, lead, copper and gypsum.