BHUBANESWAR, India -- Coal mining for electricity generation is the biggest threat to India's tigers, a report by environmental activists Greenpeace warned, demanding a moratorium on clearances for new mines just days after massive blackouts highlighted power shortages.

A hot-button issue in India, tiger conservation pits the desire to preserve wildlife against the development needs of a country that in March witnessed its slowest economic growth rate in nine years and where hundreds of millions continue to live below poverty line.

India is home to more than half of the world's tigers, with 1,706 living in the wild, compared to 100,000 at the turn of the last century. The International Union for Conservative of Nature estimates between 3,000 and 4,000 tigers live in the wild anywhere in the world.

Report warns of 'stark' situation
The emerging Asian power has witnessed an unprecedented hike in new coal mines and coal-run power plants in the past five years, placing the lives of many endangered animals at risk, the report released late Wednesday said.

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Calling the situation "stark," Greenpeace says coal mining has already started affecting tigers in many areas such as Chandrapur in the state of Maharashtra.

"But there are other locations where the problem is already, or will soon be, equally severe," Greenpeace campaigner Ashish Fernandes told Reuters.

Reeling from the two blackouts this week and an ongoing shortage of power, the Indian government is under great pressure to mine more coal to meet a soaring demand for energy.

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Greenpeace called for greater investment in renewable energy, especially wind and solar power.

Extensive coal reserves
Frequent power outages are seen as a major constraint to faster economic growth, putting pressure on the Indian government to permit the development of coal mines.

India's top court bans tourism in tiger parks

"The government continues to clear coal power projects and mines way beyond requirements, often overriding the objections of its officials and committees. We are asking for an immediate moratorium on all new forest clearances, until the criteria for determining forests off limits to mining are agreed upon and implemented, with proper public consultation and input," The Times of India quoted National Board for Wildlife member Biswajit Mohanty as saying.

India sits on the world's fifth-largest coal reserves, and produces the most after China and the United States.

The report says if India continues its dependence on coal to meet its energy needs, the destruction already seen in these areas will multiply across much of central India, which has 80 percent of the country's coal reserves and 35 per cent of its tigers.

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Tourism banned in 'core' tiger habitats
Last month, in a move to protect the endangered cats, the Supreme Court in India ordered a ban on tourism in "core zones" of more than 40 of the country's tiger reserves.

The order will effectively extinguish tourism at some reserves, while hardly touching other ones at all, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

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At the approximately 150-square-mile Ranthambore National Park, in the northwest of the country, tourism was expected virtually to cease altogether. The reserve, home to around 30 tigers, attracts an estimated 70,000 foreign and 150,000 domestic tourists last year, according to the Journal.

Aditya Singh / AFP - Getty Images, file

A tiger yawns at the Ranthambore National Park, in India's northwestern Rajasthan state, in January 2004.

But under the new ruling, tourists would effectively be barred from the park and revenues would dry up, the paper reported.

The government has for decades been fighting a losing battle to conserve tiger numbers against poaching, which feeds a lucrative cross-border trade in tiger body parts, and the loss of natural habitat.

Read the full Greenpeace report on tigers in India

Reuters and NBC News staff contributed to this report.

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Martin Langer / Greenpeace via AP

After a gas leak was discovered, a two-mile exclusion zone has been set up around the offshore platform in the North Sea, about 150 miles from the eastern coast of Scotland.

The French oil company Total believes it has found the source of the gas leak from a North Sea platform, the Elgin, the Guardian reported. A flame continues to burn in the stack above the platform since a leak was discovered on Sunday.

The 238 workers were evacuated Monday from the platform, about 150 miles off the coast of eastern Scotland. The company cut electricity sources to avoid sparks.

The leak was in a rock formation about 2.5 miles beneath the seabed, the Guardian reported. Total said it has sent two firefighting vessels to the scene.

Union leaders urged oil companies to evacuate rigs and platforms within five miles of the Elgin, the Guardian reported.

In a statement posted on the company’s Facebook profile, Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier, a spokesman for Total said the situation was stable but that "zero risk does not exist."

“A gas cloud is always a fire hazard," Saulnier said. "As a result, we have made every effort to reduce this risk as much as possible. The British authorities have taken protective measures.”

Environmental groups warned Thursday that the highly pressurized gas that is leaking could trigger an oil spill, the Christian Science Monitor reported. The Monitor noted that the leak occurred the same week that the U.K. oil and gas industry announced it had started a deep-water hunt for resources off the western Scottish coast.  

"The industry is trying to squeeze out the very last of the Earth's reserves and companies such as Total, BP and Royal Dutch Shell are pushing themselves into exploration that is extremely difficult, costly and risky," said Charlie Kronick, a senior climate adviser at Greenpeace U.K., according to the Monitor.

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Actress Lucy Lawless is shown protesting Arctic oil drilling Friday aboard the ship Noble Discoverer at Port Taranaki, New Zealand.

Actress Lucy Lawless and six other Greenpeace activists boarded an Arctic-bound Shell oil-drilling ship in Port Taranaki, New Zealand, on Friday morning, causing authorities to limit port access.

The group scaled a 53-meter derrick on the Liberian-flagged Noble Discoverer around 7 a.m. local time.

Lawless told msnbc.com that her heart was pounding and she was "a little shell-shocked" as they boarded, but that she now felt safe.

"We don’t need to trash the Arctic to get three more years' worth of oil," she said in a telephone interview from the ship.

Even as police warned them that they were breaking the law, protesters remained aboard.

After about five hours, police told the protesters, including Lawless, they were under arrest and should come down.

Lawless told police the group wasn't leaving and "we feel we have no choice morally but to stay here and get our message out," New Zealands' 3 News reported.

Earlier, Greenpeace and Lawless tweeted the occupation.

“I’m on one of the oldest drill rigs on the planet and it’s heading to the Arctic. Tell Shell to stop,” Lawless tweeted.

Unique species
James Turner, a spokesman for Greenpeace, told msnbc.com the occupation was the organization's last resort to stop Shell from drilling in the Arctic.

"We simply don’t believe Shell's reassurances that this is safe," Turner said.

He said the Arctic is the home of many unique species, and an oil spill would be virtually impossible to contain, given the area's remoteness. Turner also accused Shell of having a "poor record" regarding oil spills.

Shell says it was "disappointed" with Greenpeace's actions, 3 News reported.

"Actions such as this jeopardize the safety of everyone involved," the company said in a statement. "While we respect the right of individuals to express their point of view, the priority should be the safety of Noble Discoverer’s personnel and that of the protesters."

"Shell has undertaken unprecedented steps to pursue safe, environmentally responsible exploration in shallow water off the coast of Alaska," the statement said.

The ship was due to depart on a 6,800-mile journey to the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska, New Zealand’s 3 News reported.

A weekend departure was planned, but Shell said the protest halted ship operations.

Turner said that Shell has a limited drilling window, given the Arctic's extreme weather conditions. Drilling can only take place when the sea ice in Alaska melts, usually between July and early fall, he said. During the rest of the year, thick ice makes drilling impossible.

Turner said the occupiers have supplies for several days. "We’re there to stop the tanker from leaving," he said.

'A peaceful protest'
But Lawless, 43, said she wasn't sure how long they'd last aboard.

"Our main aim is that this be a peaceful protest, but the law will do what the law has to do," Lawless told 3 News. "We do what we feel we have to do." She told msnbc.com that she and the other protesters have respect for the police.

One person was arrested at the port gate, 3 News said.

The police commander for New Plymouth, Inspector Blair Telford, told the New Zealand Herald that his office's role was to ensure any protest was lawful and that owners and crew of the ship were allowed to go about their lawful business.

"The protesters are clearly breaking the law by trespassing on the ship and we are currently liaising with the Port of Taranaki and the harbormaster to decide the most appropriate course of action. Public safety is paramount.''

Lawless is best known for her television title role as "Xena: Warrior Princess" and currently stars in Starz's "Spartacus" as Lucretia.

She told msnbc.com she hopes her children will live in a better world. "Climate change profiteers should not be allowed to destroy our children’s future," she said.

"Companies are addicted to oil; they’re begging an intervention," Lawless said. "Shell has the technology to be one of the world leaders in a clean energy economy."