Stop Uranium Mining in Autralia's Kakadu National Park
5/20/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Stop Uranium Mining in Autralia's Kakadu National Park
Source: Friends of the Earth - Australia
Status: Distribute freely with credit given to source
Date: May 20, 1999
Attn: Global Response Quick Response Network:
This urgent appeal comes from Friends of the Earth - Australia.
Please send a fax to the Director general of UNESCO, Federico Major,
urging him to support the listing of Kakadu National Park as 'World
Heritage in Danger', and oppose uranium mining in the park. Please
see the model letter below. Thanks for your help with this! --GR
(NAME OF PERSON OR ORGANISATION)
ATTN FEDERICO MAJOR,
DIRECTOR- GENERAL, UNESCO,
7 PLACE DE FONTENOY,
75352 PARIS 07SP FRANCE
+++ 33 1 45 68 55 54
RE: KAKADU WORLD HERITAGE IN DANGER.
FROM
(NAME)
(DATE)
Dear Federico Major,
I am writing to express my concern over the impact of uranium mining
on the World Heritage values of Kakadu National Park, and to urge you
to give your full support to its being placed on the World Heritage
in Danger list at the extraordinary meeting of the World Heritage
Committee in Paris on July 12th.
Not to place Kakadu National Park on the list of World Heritage In
Danger, merely because the Australian Government has opened an
aggressive, divisive, and well-funded campaign to prevent its
inscription, will in our view:
(a)Increase the site- specific impacts of a large uranium mine in the
heart of Kakadu National Park, and remove any protection that an 'in
danger' listing would afford.
(b)Allow the Australian and other governments (such as for example,
that of Guinea) to argue that mining is compatible with World
Heritage natural and cultural values.
(c)Thereby reduce the integrity and credibility of the World heritage
Convention as a whole.
In this context, I note that, in the most recent ICOMOS report in
response to the Australian Governments response to the World Heritage
Kakadu Mission report, is quoted ICOMOS and IUCN's warning to the
World heritage Committee that:
"...failure to recognise the dangers identified in the report of the
Review Mission, and to implement its recommendations will diminish
the standards for which the World Heritage Convention enjoys such
high international prestige, and risks prejudicing that
prestige."[AnnexVI.2 to the report of the Kyoto Meeting].
The World Heritage Bureau and the World Heritage Committee have
consistently taken the view that an 'in danger' listing for World
Heritage properties is warranted when the World Heritage values,
cultural or natural, of those properties are threatened by amongst
other things inappropriate and ill- conceived development projects,
and inadequate planning protection.
For example, Yellowstone National Park in the US was placed on the
'In Danger' list in the light of a proposal to mine gold some 2km
outside the external boundaries of the park. The Mt. Nimba Nature
Reserve was listed as 'in Danger' when the Guinean government
announced plans to mine iron- ore in the reserve, claiming, like the
Australian Government, that the mining area did not form part of the
World Heritage property.
Failure to place Kakadu National Park on the 'in Danger' list, as
strongly recommended by IUCN, ICOMOS, and ICCROM in Kyoto in December
1998 and as reiterated today, would be completely inconsistent with
the established practice to date of the World Heritage Committee.
Failure to inscribe Kakadu National Park on the In Danger List will
send the very negative signal to the global community that an
aggressive campaign against an 'In Danger' listing by a State Party
can prevent an in Danger listing, where the merits of the case are
clearly that such a listing is required.
As Director-General of UNESCO, it is your clear duty to defend the
integrity of the World Heritage Convention, by ensuring that Kakadu
National Park is listed as 'In Danger' in Paris on July 12, 1999.
Yours Sincerely,
(SIGNATURE).
GLOBAL RESPONSE is an international letter-writing network of
environmental activists. In partnership with indigenous,
environmentalist and peace and justice organizations around the
world, GLOBAL RESPONSE develops "Actions" that describe specific,
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governments or international organizations that have the power and
responsibility to take corrective action. GR also issues "Young
Environmentalists' Actions" and "Eco-Club Actions" designed to
educate and motivate elementary and high school students to practice
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