By Francesca Davis
On September 30, environment groups in Cologne and Bonn in Germany demonstrated in front of the Cologne Cathedral in protest against the Jabiluka mine. The activists likened the mining of Kakadu to mining under the Cologne Cathedral, which has been World Heritage since 1996. On the same day, they presented a petition to the Australian embassy in Bonn before moving to the German ministries of environment and nuclear safety.
The action is a precursor to an international day of action (IDA) that will be held on October 20. Protests are already planned for Germany and Japan, and it is expected that countries such as Canada, the US and Korea, which participated in the first international day of action held in April, will join them.
According to John Hallam from Friends of the Earth, Sydney, a pre-election IDA was rejected on the basis that the timing was bad.
The day is part of the strategy to pressure the World Heritage Bureau to list Kakadu as World Heritage in Danger at its meeting in Kyoto in early December.
A team from the World Heritage Committee was due to visit Jabiluka from October 4 to 10, but the trip was postponed for two weeks upon the request of the Coalition government because of the October 3 election. It is significant that this was also the week a Strong Country Celebration was being held in Jabiluka, attracting hundreds of activists from around the country.
The bureau decided to send a team to Jabiluka after receiving unprecedented correspondence on Jabiluka from Australian and international conservation NGOs, indigenous peoples and anti-uranium organisations.
The bureau had received so many faxes protesting against Jabiluka's destruction that it needed trolleys to take them away. This is what prompted its decision to send its chairperson and the director of the World Heritage Centre in Paris, amongst other high profile members on the team.
Hallam said that things look positive, as Yellowstone and the Everglades parks in the US have recently been listed as World Heritage in Danger and are considered a precedent.
According to Hallam, the next step is to present credible submissions. The Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation is presenting one on Jabiluka's cultural values, and a group of activists is submitting one on the natural values of the area.
The team is now expected either on October 12 or October 18. While the delay means more time for the campaign to prepare, it also gives ERA more time to shore up contracts and to develop the site, Hallam said. While it would have been more useful to have the team here prior to the elections, the new schedule means it might be here for the IDA.
It has been decided that national and local actions will not be held on the same day as the international actions. According to Hallam, the thinking behind this is that it would be a waste of media opportunities and take the focus off the international events.
Instead, if actions are planned, they will take place before or after. Under discussion is a proposal for a march on Parliament House in Canberra.