A business-as-usual approach will only result in depriving future generations of their ecological and cultural inheritance.Īs it stands now, the Turnbull government has no interest in strengthening environmental laws. Unfortunately, we are likely to expedite the palm cockatoo, and many other species, towards extinction without urgent reform of our national environment laws. Central to that approach is the need to identify critical habitat for threatened species, consider the potential cumulative impact of multiple projects over a period of time, and respond with evidence-based conservation measures.
While land use conflicts have plagued Cape York for decades, the impending expansion of bauxite mining requires a coordinated approach. This is illustrated by various environmental reports associated with different mining projects, each acknowledging a confirmed impact on the palm cockatoo, but each claiming that it will not be significant. If we continue to assess each mining proposal in a piecemeal way, we will be blind to the long-term impacts of incremental habitat loss from multiple projects. Once gone, recovery of any species is challenging, costly and never guaranteed. We risk destroying what ecologists call source populations. Without robust bioregional planning, the identification and protection critical habitat and more effective environmental laws, the cumulative impacts are likely to cause a significant decline in palm cockatoo numbers. Based on new and ongoing research into population interactions across the Cape’s sub-regions, he believes the threats are understated. Professor Rod Heinsohn from ANU’s Fenner School of Environment and Society is currently leading research into the population dynamics of palm cockatoos throughout Cape York. In addition, Queensland’s weakened vegetation laws now leave its habitat vulnerable to clearing for agriculture.Ī key flaw in the approvals process under current national environment laws is the unwillingness to consider the cumulative impact of a number of individual projects on a population of threatened species across a geographic area. Further, neither the Queensland nor Commonwealth governments are considering the combined impact of multiple mining operations in this unique region.Īccording to advice from the Commonwealth’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee, the palm cockatoo faces extinction through the loss of suitable nesting hollows arising from the cumulative impact of fire, cyclones, and mining. The very nature of bauxite mining precludes the possibility of rehabilitation to pre-mining forest diversity. Massive swathes of habitat will be cleared over the coming decades. While these projects will bring employment and economic benefits to the region, it will come at a heavy cost to the environment. Photo: Mark Ziembicki.Īs the price of bauxite slowly climbs with increased demand from China, a variety of proponents are lining up for Commonwealth approval. Palm Cockatoo pair in nest tree removed for bauxite mining. The mining footprint for the Amrun project is a massive 30,000 hectares. Further, with about 85 percent of a unique type of tall open forest that provides important habitat for the palm cockatoo covered either by mining leases or exploration permits, the loss of habitat will be ongoing.įor example, Rio Tinto have about 386,000 hectares of mining lease on Cape York associated with their Weipa operations and new Amrun project.
Listed as vulnerable under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act in October 2015, the plight of the palm cockatoo is symptomatic of Australia’s inadequate environmental laws.īauxite mining operations on Cape York’s west coast have already reduced nesting hollows and feeding habitat for the cockatoo over the last 40 years. Australia’s largest cockatoo, the palm cockatoo ( Probosciger aterrimus macgillivrayi) is headed towards extinction as a spate of new strip-mining projects are set to obliterate substantial tracts of habitat on Cape York Peninsula.
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