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Water, land clearing and climate change drive anti-cotton campaign

A new report has raised serious doubt about the Territory Government’s attempt to grow the economy through the emerging industry.

Central Queensland cotton farm visitors required to use footbaths

AN anti-cotton lobby organisation has released a report casting doubt on the viability of the emerging Territory industry.

Commissioned by Territory Rivers: Keep ‘em Flowing and Centre for Conservation Geography, ‘A Fork in the River’ calls for a moratorium on new water licences and allocations and caps on extractions at the Daly and Roper river catchments.

The report’s key findings point to substantial growth towards large-scale cotton production in the Territory, potentially growing up to 200,000ha in the longer term.

The report casts doubt on an earlier finding that 520GL of floodwaters are potentially available in the Daly region.

It also claims large-scale harvesting and storage of floodplain and river waters could compromise aquifer recharge, river flows, wetland ecology and productivity.

The report raises issues around low-nutrient soil, the impacts of land clearing and potential harm to fisheries.

The report claims “limited science” was used “to inform decisions about large-scale cotton farming” and seeks the application of a “precautionary principle” to avoid irreversible harm.

‘A Fork in the River’ cites a 2021 poll that shows 69 per cent of respondents said the cotton industry shouldn’t be allowed in the Territory until the industry fixes the mess in the Murray-Darling Basin.

“The NT has an opportunity to learn from and avoid repeating the mistakes so evident in the Murray-Darling Basin,” the report said.

“But to achieve this, there needs to be a much greater community focus on the potential consequences of a major cotton industry and a strengthening of the science, laws and policies needed to protect the environmental, cultural and economic values of NT rivers.”

A report in the NT News in December quoted Douglas Daly farmer Sam McBean, who had been involved in a two-year cotton production trial, that cotton used less water than most crops.

“Everyone is very concerned about the water usage of cotton which I understand but our water usage in our irrigation has been a lot less than other crops we grow under irrigation,” he said.

Original URL: https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/water-land-clearing-and-climate-change-drive-anticotton-campaign/news-story/adbd3a78e75f35620ddf3e132edc3831