Concerns raised over impact of industrial cotton gin on Northern Territory’s rivers
Media Statement
Key points:
- Australia’s cotton industry has major ambitions in the Northern Territory, projecting a future of hundreds of thousands of hectares of cropping, watered by billions of litres of water extracted from aquifers, rivers and floodplains.
- A cotton gin facility could facilitate severe impacts on the surrounding ecosystems, rivers, and floodplains.
- The owners of Tarwoo Station near Katherine were fined earlier this year after being found to have undertaken unlawful land clearing on the gin site.
- The cotton industry plans to rapidly embark on large-scale production in the NT, with more than 50,000 hectares of cropping forecast within a few years.
- The cleared arable area needed to meet short-term industry forecasts may be 100,000 to 150,000 hectares.
- Territorians are calling for no more water out of river systems, but draft policies would allow hundreds of gigalitres of water to be taken annually from rivers and floodplains.
The following quotes can be attributed to Mitch Hart – Northern Territory Manager for the Pew Charitable Trusts:
“Territorians remain gravely concerned at the prospect of a rapidly expanding cotton industry, fueled by the opening of an industrial cotton gin near Katherine this month.
“Communities in the Murray Darling have already witnessed first-hand the impact that large-scale cotton crops have on river catchments, corroding public trust and destroying local communities. The unlawful land clearing activities already documented in the Territory give little hope things will be different here.
“The Fyles Government should rule out giving the cotton industry more water from our rivers and floodplains, which starts with no more water out of the systems.
“It is time the Northern Territory Government listened to the concerns of our communities by protecting the fragile environment we depend on. “Territorians want a healthy future for our rivers, they care deeply about their health for water flows, fishing and are concerned about the industry push for large-scale cotton that would put iconic Territory rivers like the Roper and Daly at risk.”