Bhubaneswar, April 10 -- The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) on Friday warned that the proposed Shree Jagannath International Airport in Odisha's Puri district could pose a "catastrophic" risk to migratory bird populations and threaten critical habitats of endangered marine species such as Olive Ridley turtles.

The airport, located at Sipasurubali village in Brahmagiri tehsil over 471 hectares of land, recently secured in-principle Stage-I approval from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change for diversion of 27.887 hectares of forest land, but with a rider that the user agency will implement mitigation measures, including a site-specific wildlife management plan recommended by WII and the Zoological Survey of India.

"T...