Land Clearing

25 March 2004

Daly River plan undermined by lack of time and science

The Environment Centre of the Northern Territory and The Wilderness Society are calling on the NT Government to extend the timeframe on the Daly River Integrated Regional Planning process.

Large-scale landclearing and irrigated agriculture are proposed for the Daly River yet there is a lack of high quality science guiding the planning process.

"The NT Government announced that the huge task of preparing a draft Integrated Regional Land Use Plan for the Daly River region be completed by September 2004.

This short timeline is simply unrealistic and is compromising the whole process" said Mr Henry Boer Northern Woodlands Campaigner, Environment Centre NT.

"NT Chief Minister Clare Martin announced that the preparation of a draft 'Integrated Regional Land Use Plan' must be based on the best scientific information available. Unfortunately there is a critical lack of high quality science to inform the preparation of this Plan.

"For example, there has never been a comprehensive study of the fish species in the Daly River – yet the Daly is one of the Territory's premier Barramundi fishing destinations.

"The NT Government should be committing significant time and resources to ensuring that there is the highest quality science informing the planning process.

"The conservation assessment undertaken by the NT Government on the Daly River is fundamentally flawed and lacks rigorous scientific information in key areas. This conservation assessment cannot be used to underpin biodiversity conservation across the Daly River Region." said Dr Barry Traill, National Woodlands Campaigner, The Wilderness Society.

Dr Traill said, "In other states of Australia a lack of high quality science and insufficient time has led to poor decisions being made by Government and the community. Governments have allowed large scale clearing and further extraction of water without knowing the full impacts on the environment."

"The Daly River is a Territory icon of national significance and requires a much bigger commitment in time and resources from the NT Government."

"The community does not want to see mistakes made in the Daly because of a lack scientific understanding about the ecological values and conservation significance of the region." Mr Boer concluded.

For more information contact:

ECNT
8981 1984
Email: ecntdaly@iinet.net.au

Dr Barry Traill - National Woodlands Campaigner
The Wilderness Society
woodlands@wilderness.org.au

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