Media Releases - 16 July 2024
WA’s Northern Jarrah Forests “can’t afford more destruction”: Footage reveals stark reality of bauxite mining expansion
Last week, Western Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority (WA EPA) approved plans by South32, a bauxite mining company, to destroy an area of Northern Jarrah Forest, home to endangered quokkas and cockatoos. Footage released today shows the tragic reality of deforestation for bauxite mining in these ancient forests which are on the brink of collapse.
Despite admitted “knowledge gaps” regarding “pressures on the forest ecosystem”, WA’s EPA has given South32 the go-ahead to destroy almost 4,000 additional hectares of Northern Jarrah Forest to mine for bauxite. This is an area 1,800 times the size of Perth’s Optus Stadium.
This is why Australia urgently needs an independent federal EPA that has access to all relevant information to consider ecosystem cumulative impacts, is free from state government conflicts of interest, and is accountable to the community.
Leading conservation organisation, the Wilderness Society, says these globally significant forests cannot afford more destruction. South32 and Alcoa must stop expanding their forest mining and finally go deforestation-free.
It is abundantly clear that deforestation for bauxite has severe impacts on the Northern Jarrah Forests—destroying habitat for threatened species, pushing them towards extinction, putting Perth’s drinking water at risk and worsening climate change. Footage recently released by the Wilderness Society shows the devastation and fragmentation of globally significant forest and endangered species habitat that lies in the wake of bauxite mining expansion.
Together, bauxite mining companies Alcoa and South32 have already ripped apart vast swathes of the jarrah, much of which remains unrehabilitated. And yet there are still plans to destroy an area of Northern Jarrah Forest larger than Greater Sydney, and fragment five times more.
South32 is relying on questionable offsets to justify its deforestation and has so far rehabilitated less than half of the area it has bulldozed, casting doubts on its promises for future restoration. South32 and Alcoa must stop expanding their forest mining and finally go deforestation-free.
“No amount of offsets or half-hearted rehabilitation can make up for this abhorrent level of destruction. The future of this globally significant ecosystem is at stake," says Adele Chasson, Corporate Campaigner at the Wilderness Society.
“This new deforestation approval brings the Northern Jarrah Forests’ unique plants and animals one step closer to extinction. WA’s EPA itself says it doesn’t have all the information to identify pressures on the forest ecosystem. If that’s the case, why has it approved further deforestation?
“This is a stark example of why a truly independent federal EPA with integrity is sorely needed to consider the compounding environmental impacts of forest destruction. Environmental decision making must be free from the influence of vested interests, and accountable to the communities that are impacted by them.
“South32 and Alcoa must stop expanding forest mining, and the WA Government needs to establish a network of protected areas across the Northern Jarrah Forests in joint agreement with Noongar First Nations.”
The Wilderness Society calls on the WA Government to establish a network of protected areas across the ecosystem, in joint agreement with Noongar First Nations. Together with our allies the Western Australian Forest Alliance, local communities in Dwellingup and Karridale, the Wilderness Society is working to protect the Northern Jarrah Forests.