Buchanania

• The government’s decision to approve this loss shows a continuing disregard for nature, cultural heritage and the legacy our descendants will inherit.
• The battle to protect Binybara – as it is known to its Traditional Owners – has galvanised the local community.
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  97% of Australians want more action to stop extinctions and 72% want extra spending on the environment

What’s at stake?

• The shoreline near the proposed housing is a globally significant site on the flyway of many shorebirds that migrate from eastern Asia to Australia each year.
• These birds face threats from habitat loss and degradation across their range.
• The project’s environmental impact statement acknowledged it would also have a significant impact on another endangered species, the black-footed tree-rat.
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A deep cultural significance

• The Larrakia people’s deep and rich cultural ties to this area stretch back millennia.
• The birdlife, from the migrating shorebirds to the owls, kites, eagles and Gouldian finches, is integral to the ecosystems and to the cultural fabric and story of this place.
• Erythrophleum chlorostachys (delenyng-gwa) leaves are used for smoking ceremonies and the inner bark for medicine to treat sores and deep wounds.
• They ask for a management plan to protect their cultural heritage to be developed with their input and that of experts and Darwin locals who value this place.

A(nother) failure of national environment law

• What those offsets are – or whether they are even possible – is not yet known.
• By the time the difficulty of finding a suitable offset site becomes clear, it is often too late – the habitat is gone.
• The case of Binybara exemplifies many of the failings of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act identified by the Samuel review.
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  Get the basics right for National Environmental Standards to ensure truly sustainable development

  John Woinarski receives has received funding from the Australian government's National Environmental Science Program.