In November 2020 Advocating Wild made a submission to the Northern Territory Environment Protection Agency (NTEPA) Public Consultation Committee. The Committee was looking to review an expiring moratorium on sea bed mining in the NT with consideration of environmental impacts and management.
Advocating Wild are thrilled to announce that the Committee has declared a ban on the practice in its coastal waters, citing the potential impact on the environment, sacred Indigenous sites and marine industries.
The moratorium affects 17.5% of Australia’s vast marine territory along its northern coastline and the Territory government said in a statement,
“Worldwide there are very few seabed mining projects, and there is limited information available to identify and inform best practice environmental management and rehabilitation in the marine environment,” it said.
“This is particularly important in the Territory where our waters are shallow, clean and highly dynamic and our marine and coastal environments are mostly intact.”
The territory’s environment minister, Eva Lawler, said in making the decision the government was protecting the natural environment and the jobs that relied on it.
“Our natural environment is one of our best assets and it’s a large part of what makes living in the territory so special,” she said.
The decision comes after both the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority sent seperate reports to the government last year on seabed mining.
The EPA report said there had been 26 applications to carry out explorations and mining in the territory’s waters before the moratorium came into effect in 2012.
Advocating Wild's submission is available to read here: https://9fb84b80-2426-45cc-86c9-7ff23326d030.filesusr.com/ugd/603079_d45e8dfd7d144ce4bfb62ef2e5ad2f81.pdf
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