The Biodiversity Council welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback to the Western Australian Government Environmental Protection Agency on the Pinjarra Alumina Refinery Revised Proposal (‘Pinjarra proposal’) and the Bauxite Mining on the Darling Range in the Southwest of WA for the years 2023 to 2027 (‘BM Proposal’). Both proposals are located in the Northern Jarrah Forest, one of two subregions within the Jarrah Forest categorised by IBRA and would clear 11,617 hectares of the Northern Jarrah Forest. Most of the forest identified for clearing is in very good or excellent condition.

Following mining, Alcoa has stated that it will “rehabilitate mine pits to jarrah forest, returning habitat for fauna”. The Environmental Impact Assessment concluded that “the Proposal is unlikely to have a significant residual impact on flora and vegetation and therefore no environmental offsets for this EPA factor are proposed.”

The proposals should not be approved. The South West of Western Australia is a recognised global biodiversity hotspot. Jarrah forests are highly biodiverse and require protection and restoration, not destruction. A legacy of clearing for logging and mining, and pressures from disease and climate change, are putting this globally significant ecosystem under threat. Alcoa’s restoration is failing to deliver ecosystem recovery and their restoration efforts are not compensating for the significant negative impacts of clearing and fragmentation.

Download the submission for further detail.