Latest news with #worldheritage
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Aboriginal leader accuses activists of destroying heritage listing of ancient rock art with their 'inaccurate' claims about impact of gas project
The boss of an Aboriginal group responsible for land that contains ancient rock art has hit out at indigenous and environmental activists, saying they have ruined a bid for world heritage listing of the site by claiming it was being damaged by a major gas project. Peter Hicks, chairman of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, will soon fly to Paris to argue again for the world heritage listing of part of the Pilbara region in northern Western Australia, based chiefly on rock art dating back tens of thousands of years. However he said opponents of the North West Shelf gas project had caused major problems for the listing application, with their campaign prompting cultural heritage body UNESCO to issue an interim decision recommending the area not be listed. Mr Hicks told Daily Mail Australia he was 'concerned that some campaigns have complicated the... nomination by redirecting focus away from the cultural significance of the Murujuga landscape itself'. He added the nomination should 'stand on the strength of the site's outstanding universal value, independent of any political or industrial agendas'. Environmental Minister Murray Watt, who recently gave conditional approval for mining company Woodside to continue its activities at North West Shelf until 2070, agreed that the activists had torpedoed the heritage listing. '[UNESCO's] concerns were about whether it was adequately protected for the future, and our view is that they overly relied on the campaign against the North West Shelf project,' he told the Australian Financial Review. 'Clearly some campaign organisations have decided to use the North West Shelf project to advance their anti-gas position.' Mr Watt travelled to Paris for the UN Oceans Conference last week where he lobbied UNESCO ambassadors to support the listing of the historically significant site. His approval to extend the North West Shelf gas project, one of the world's biggest liquefied natural gas projects, came hours after the UNESCO decision to oppose the listing application. He told Guardian Australia the report featured 'factual inaccuracies' and had been 'clearly influenced' by the campaigning efforts of environmental groups. 'Our view was that the decision was overly influenced by that kind of political activity rather than the scientific evidence, and rather than the wishes of the traditional owners,' he told the outlet. 'They're the kind of things that should come first.' The federal government was due to make a decision on the future of the gas project before the election but it was delayed by Mr Watt's predecessor Tanya Plibersek. Critics accused the Albanese government of intentionally delaying the decision for political reasons. Environmental campaigners and allied Aboriginal groups opposed the extension of the gas project, saying it would undermine Australia's goal of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 and would endanger the rock art. Environmental Minister Murray Watt said UNESCO's report which referred a world heritage listing application back to the government was 'clearly influenced' by environmental groups Woodside is currently considering the strict environmental and cultural conditions imposed by Mr Watt in granting the extension, and has yet to act on the approval. The North West Shelf gas project extracts gas from massive basins off the Pilbara coast which is then processed at the Karratha Plant on the Burrup Peninsula. More than two-thirds of the 33 trillion cubic feet of gas in the basins remains untouched and, last financial year, produced gas worth about $70billion. The Albanese government's decision to extend the project followed an earlier environmental approval granted by the WA government in December last year. Both approvals face legal challenges at the state and federal level, with the federal bid led by former Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation chairperson Raelene Cooper. But Mr Hicks, a representative of the local Wong-Goo-Tt-Oo people, has argued industry can coexist with the preservation of the site's cultural significance. He plans to plead his case at a meeting of international delegates at the UNESCO World Heritage meeting in July. 'Mr Hicks intends to highlight to the World Heritage Committee that the Murujuga Cultural Landscape has been managed by traditional owners and custodians with deep cultural care for over 50,000 years,' his office said. 'He will emphasise that the community's connection to Country, its co-existence with industry, and the scientific findings that suggest appropriate regulation and management of emissions will protect the rock art, all support the case for listing. 'His core message is that world heritage status is vital for protecting Murujuga for future generations—on its cultural merits, not as a proxy in broader political debates.'
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Murray Watt ‘personally lobbied' Unesco over barring of WA rock art from world heritage list
Australia's environment minister, Murray Watt, has lobbied national Unesco ambassadors in a bid to overturn a recommendation that ancient rock art in Western Australia's north-west should not receive world heritage listing unless nearby industrial facilities shut down. Delegations from the Australian government and the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, a body established to represent five traditional Indigenous language groups, plan to attend a Unesco meeting in Paris next month to argue for an immediate world heritage listing for the Murujuga cultural landscape. The ramped up lobbying campaign follows the UN body last month finding facilities – including Woodside Energy's controversial North West Shelf gas processing plant – needed to be removed from the region if Australia wanted to win world heritage listing for more than a million petroglyphs, some nearly 50,000 years old. The Unesco recommendationfollowed advice from the International Council on Monuments and Sites that, while Murujuga met the main requirements for a world heritage listing, industrial pollution was making the 'integrity and the authenticity of key attributes…highly vulnerable'. Speaking to Guardian Australia, Watt repeated his claim that the Unesco report included 'factual inaccuracies' and said the authors did not have access to 'the latest evidence', including a rock art monitoring report compiled last year and released by the WA government in May. Watt claimed the recommendation had been 'clearly influenced by some campaign efforts' by environment organisations. 'Our view was that the decision was overly influenced by that kind of political activity rather than the scientific evidence, and rather than the wishes of the traditional owners,' he said. 'I think they're the kind of things that should come first.' Watt said he had 'personally lobbied a number of Unesco ambassadors who will be making this decision' at a UN Oceans Conference in France last week. 'Obviously, our government officials are doing that as well. I would say we got a good hearing on our points. I wouldn't say that people have decided. They're obviously going to have to think about it and consider the evidence, but we'll be lobbying hard in favour of the listing,' he said. The Unesco report was released just hours before Watt announced he planned to approve Woodside's application to extend the life of the North West Shelf development – one of the world's biggest liquified natural gas projects – from 2030 to 2070. It followed the proposal receiving approval from the WA government in December. The decisions have been criticised by environment organisations, academic researchers and the traditional custodians body Save Our Songlines on two grounds: the potential impact of local air pollution on the culturally important rock art and the billions of tonnes of greenhouse emissions that could result from gas produced at the plant. The group Friends of Australian Rock Art has launched a bid in the WA supreme court to challenge the state government's approval decision. Watt was not required to consider greenhouse gas emissions as climate impact is not grounds to refuse or limit a development application under Australia's national environment law. The government says it deals with industrial emissions under its safeguard mechanism policy. On rock art, the minister said his proposed approval included 'strict conditions' relating to local air emissions that could affect Murujuga rock art. The conditions have not been made public and Woodside was given 10 days to respond to them. That time has since been extended. Prof Benjamin Smith, an archaeologist and rock art expert at the University of Western Australia, criticised the decision and the WA government's rock art monitoring report. He said a government summary of the report incorrectly claimed most existing damage to petroglyphs from industrial pollution occurred in the 1970s and 1980s and that key pollutant levels had declined since 2014. He claimed scientists who worked on the report were being gagged so they couldn't raise their concerns about how their data was being interpreted. Watt said the conditional approval decision had 'not been blind to potential impacts on the rock art. In fact, that was the entire basis of the decision'. Watt said if Murujuga received world heritage listing it would 'add another layer of protection to ensure that it is cared for into the future'. He argued there had been a 'concerted campaign' by some environment groups to discredit the rock art monitoring report, but one of its authors, Prof Ben Mullins, had told the ABC that he agreed with the public interpretation of its findings. 'I think, unfortunately, this issue has become politicised, and what's really important is that we all take a step back and listen to the views of the traditional owners,' Watt said. 'Yes, there are some individuals who are not supporting the listing. But the representative body for the traditional owner groups is not just supporting their application, they're leading it.' The chair of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, Peter Hicks, said 'misinformation, misrepresentation and statements that are simply untrue' over the state of rock art protection had led to 'grief and sadness in our communities'. 'We co-exist with industry and support the science,' he said. 'As the traditional owners, we have every confidence that the Murujuga rock art will continue to endure for thousands of years.' The Unesco recommendation is due to go before the 21-country world heritage committee on 6 July.
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Australia to lobby Unesco over barring of ancient rock site from world heritage list due to Woodside emissions
The Albanese government will launch a lobbying campaign in a bid to reverse a Unesco recommendation that an ancient rock art site in Western Australia can't go on the world heritage list until damaging industrial emissions linked to a controversial Woodside gas development are stopped. Government officials were aiming to meet Unesco next week after its advisers said the nomination of the Murujuga Cultural Landscape in north-west WA – home to more than a million petroglyphs, some almost 50,000 years old – should be referred back to Australia until nearby 'degrading acidic emissions' were halted. The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) advised Unesco the main requirements for world heritage nomination had been met, but pollution from nearby industry 'makes the integrity and the authenticity of key attributes of the nominated property highly vulnerable'. The main source of emissions, the ICOMOS report said, was Woodside's Karratha gas plant, which last week was conditionally awarded a 40-year extension by the environment minister, Murray Watt, to operate until 2070. The Unesco recommendation is due to go before the 21-country world heritage committee at its next meeting on 6 July in Paris. A government spokesperson told the Guardian it was now 'actively engaged in the process' and would make 'strong representations at every opportunity' to have Murujuga listed as a world heritage site at the Paris meeting. Sources told the Guardian that Australian government department officials were also aiming to meet Unesco officials over the nomination during next week's UN oceans conference in Nice. Last week, Watt said he was disappointed Unesco had been influenced by 'factual inaccuracies' but did not provide further detail on what those inaccuracies were. Most of the pieces of rock art were created by hitting the rocks with harder rocks to remove a top layer, revealing lighter colours beneath – a technique known as pecking. Scientists expressed concern that emissions of nitrous oxide and sulphur oxide were working to slowly dissolve the top layers of the petroglyph rocks. A summary of a state government-commissioned monitoring report on the state of pollution and the petroglyphs, released last month, claimed observed damage to some of the rocks was likely related to a power plant that ran in the 1970s and 1980s. But leading rock art expert Prof Benjamin Smith, of the University of Western Australia, said the body of the 800-page report was clear that current industrial emissions were also damaging the petroglyphs. He said: 'If [the federal government] is trying to say the damage was done in the 70s and 80s, then they're on a hiding to nothing. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'I don't think emissions are damaging the rock art, I know they are.' He said the official monitoring report showed current emissions at the site were likely between four and five times higher than during the 1970s and 80s. Smith said: 'The 800-page report makes it clear they are being damaged in the areas closest to industry. If [Australia] tries to blame that power plant in the 1970s, then the implication is that that emissions are damaging it five times more now.' The ABC has reported a scientist leading the monitoring report has privately complained the report was altered to remove a line on a graph that would have shown 'five of the monitoring sites were experiencing pollutant levels above the interim guideline'. The ICOMOS evaluation report said it had received information from a 'third party' drawing its attention to the extension of Woodside's Karratha gas plant to 2070. That information, the Guardian can reveal, was a detailed letter from the Australian Conservation Foundation, which pointed to several studies raising concerns about emissions and the rock art. The Guardian has revealed the Australian government has previously carried out a long and sustained lobbying campaign to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the world heritage list of sites in danger. Gavan Macfadzean, climate and energy program manager at ACF, said he expected the Australian government would now be lobbying Unesco and the world heritage committee up to the meeting. 'Our role is to make sure that when sites are nominated [for world heritage status], we're reassured that the values for which it's being evaluated are protected,' he said. 'We support the listing, but we have to make sure that it's not a greenwashing exercise. We want to see the nomination happen in a way that protects the values. He said emissions of nitrous oxide and sulfur oxide from local industry – including from Woodside's gas processing facility – needed to be 'fully addressed'. In a statement, the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC), which has worked with government to nominate the site, said it was 'deeply disappointed' by the ICOMOS recommendation. The chair of MAC, Peter Hicks, said the ICOMOS report had made clear the site should be on the world heritage list. He said: 'The evaluation report provides the pathway to finalising world heritage listing and while the referral adds another small step to our journey, it is a positive outcome and not a rejection. 'While we are disappointed, we are determined to finish our journey and see the Murujuga Cultural Landscape included on the world heritage list as soon as possible.' A spokesperson for Woodside said the final decision on the nomination would rest with the world heritage committee. They said: 'Woodside will continue to support the leadership of traditional custodians, including the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC), which holds cultural authority, and work with the commonwealth and state governments as they prepare their responses to the [ICOMOS] recommendation.' The statement said the findings of the monitoring report 'show that emissions are below risk thresholds, and the data does not support the theory that acid rain damages the petroglyphs.' They said: 'Woodside has taken proactive steps over many years – including emissions reductions, data sharing and ongoing support for [the monitoring report] – to ensure we manage our impacts responsibly. 'We believe the world heritage nomination should proceed on the strength of the evidence and stand as proof that cultural heritage and industry can responsibly coexist when collaboration, transparency, and rigorous scientific monitoring are in place.'
