Action Plan to Conserve the Daly River as a Living River
WWF is calling on the Northern Territory Government to end major land clearing, cap water use at low levels and invest in sustainable industries in the Daly River catchment.
WWF has developed an 11-point, 22-page plan for conserving the Daly River as a Living River, in partnership with the Environment Centre NT (ECNT). WWF and ECNT released a report in 2005 assessing the Daly River as being of national conservation significance, and also having global conservation significance in relation to its outstanding floodplain and estuarine wetlands.
WWF welcomes the recent announcement by the Northern Territory Chief Minister to maintain the moratorium on land clearing that has existed over part of the catchment since 2003. But in areas of the catchment outside the lands covered by the moratorium, the NT Government approved approximately 5, 000 hectares of land for clearing in 2006 and in 2007 near Katherine, which is estimated to have released up to 800, 000 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year.
At a time when Australia needs to stabilise and move quickly to reducing carbon emissions, ending major land clearing is one of the quickest, cheapest and least socially disruptive options available.
With major pressure mounting for agricultural development in the catchment, implementing this action plan would ensure the Daly River is conserved as a Living River. For more information on WWF and ECNT's proposals regarding a Living Rivers program in the Northern Territory, visit http://wwf.org.au/publications/living-rivers-nt-proposal-200606/.
