Its not every day The Australian newspaper mentions an endangered bird species on the front page. Or my name, for that matter!
One of the most rewarding (and most heartbreaking and frustrating) roles of my postdoctoral life has been being a part of the Recovery Team for the endangered (EPBC & QLD listings) Black-throated Finch. For many threatened species across Australia, habitat loss was a large factor in the past, but for the Black-throated Finch habitat loss and habitat degradation are ongoing threats that show no sign of slowing pace.
One of the most alarming is the habitat that will be lost through the development of Adani’s Carmichael Coal mine, proposed for the Galilee Basin of central Queensland. The footprint of the Carmichael Coal mine stretches for over 40 km. The habitat that sits within the mine footprint contains the largest flocks of Black-throated Finch ever recorded – including a flock of approximately 400 birds found by then-PhD student Stanley Tang.
The Carmichael Coal mine will impact Black-throated Finch habitat by clearing the good intact areas, by fragmenting the remaining habitat, and there is likely to be further degradation associated with subsidence due to underground mining, and more traffic to the area spreading weeds. Another potential threat is that de-watering the mine will mean there is no water for the bores that the Black-throated Finch rely on for daily drinking water. All of these together could mean the best remaining habitat known for the Black-throated Finch could become unsuitable, propelling them towards extinction.
To get their Mining Licence, Adani had to go through the Environmental Impact Statement process, and propose measures to mitigate the damage the mine will have on Black-throated Finch. The mine has been given environmental approval by both the federal and Queensland Governments. This is despite the Queensland’s Land Court finding that the Carmichael Coal mine will have a severe impact on Black-throated Finch, and the findings of the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team that show that the proposed measures will not prevent severe declines.
You cannot compensate for the loss of the best remaining habitat of an endangered species. If it were possible, it would probably take decades. Yet, no such efforts have begun for the Carmichael Coal mine.
The Black-throated Finch Recovery Team has been trying to get this message across to various governmental bodies, but this has led to a blocking of the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team from the decision-making process.
So when I got an invitation from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) to join a trip to the region with the federal opposition leader Bill Shorten in January, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get the message out to someone who may have an opportunity to do something about this situation.
Along with groundwater specialist Prof Rod Fensham, and representatives from ACF, we took a charter flight from Cairns over the mine site with Mr Shorten and his advisers.
I told Mr Shorten of the ongoing declines of Black-throated Finch, and how they have become increasingly reliant on only 2 main regions: around Townsville in north-east Queensland, and around the Carmichael Coal mine site (and including some of the other proposed thermal coal mines for the region).
This trip caught the eye of the media last week, when past-president of ACF Geoff Cousins broke the story on ABC’s 7:30 Report, and got picked up by The Australian newspaper [paywall]. Of course, most of the story was about Mr Shorten’s promises and commitments, but I was pleased The Australian’s journalist printed my main message – the impact the Carmichael Coal mine will have on Black-throated Finch – albeit buried at the very end of the article.
There are grounds that the federal EPBC approval for the Carmichael Coal mine could be revoked because the environment minister didn’t take into account the “new information” which includes Stanley’s flock of 400 Black-throated Finches, and because it can be shown that the mitigation measures are inadequate. This would stop the mine from proceeding, unless they were able to re-establish EPBC approval.
