Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in Assam is imperilled by several threats. Railway lines that already fragment the forest and claim the lives of elephants and other wildlife through collisions are now set to be electrified. The tracks also confine groups of gibbons within fragments, as the ape is completely arboreal, and thus unable to cross over.

Mitigation measures attempted by the forest department are often planned without due expert consultation, and tend to fail. For example, artificial canopy bridges built by the forest department have never been used by the gibbons, according to Dilip Chetry, a primatologist with Aaranyak, a Guwahati-based nonprofit that conducts ecological research across northeast India.

The Assam government recently permitted Vedanta Limited to explore oil in this landscape. The corporation has identified six sites within Hollongapar, Dissoi Reserve Forest and Dissoi Valley Reserve Forest, all within the sanctuary’s Eco Sensitive Zone.

Some communities are actively protesting the electrification of the railway lines and the oil exploration activities, demanding that the future of their beloved Hollongapar and its wild inhabitants be secured.

While in 2024, the oil exploration received in-principle approval from the central government, on January 12, 2025, the National Board for Wildlife approved exploratory drilling for Cairn Oil & Gas, a vertical of Vedanta Limited, in the sanctuary’s ESZ. The board also stated that no oil and gas extraction within the ESZ will be allowed if any hydrocarbon reserves are discovered at the site.

“The government wants to do so-called ‘developmental work’ by destroying our forests. If they want us to develop, why don’t they come to our villages first, where we need medical facilities, good schools, and electricity?” asks Binoy Karmakar, a resident of Nagakata village in Dissoi Valley.