Satellite launch facility plan poses a threat to Hope Island’s ecosystem

The Andhra Pradesh government is planning its second satellite launch facility on Hope Island, a 16‑kilometre‑long, tadpole‑shaped island off the coast of Kakinada. However, the island has been facing threats of coastal erosion due to continuous dredging activities at Kakinada Port.

Formed about a century ago, the tadpole‑shaped sandspit is a geological formation created by sediment deposition from the Godavari and Coringa river runoffs in the Kakinada Bay area. “A century ago, the spit did not exist in Kakinada Bay,” observes Kakani Nageswara Rao, Honorary Professor in the Department of Geo‑Engineering at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.