Private real estate developers want to build 3600 apartments on important Ramsar wetlands and migratory shorebird habitat at Toondah Harbour.
As well as being habitat for critically endangered Eastern Curlew and other migratory shorebirds, Toondah Harbour is a Ramsar listed wetland. If Walker Corporation’s proposal goes ahead it will undermine global wetland protection.
Together, we lodged over 16,000 comments to Walker Corporation’s draft EIS opposing the development!
While we certainly should all be proud of this achievement the campaign to save the Ramsar wetlands and threatened bird habitat at Toondah Harbour will continue.
The onus moves to Walker Corporation to compile and respond to all the comments they have received over the last two months and prepare a final EIS report. We expect Walker Corporation to submit this final EIS report to the Federal Minister for the Environment for a final assessment sometime next year.
Head over to the Act for Birds page to keep up to date with the latest Toondah Harbour news and actions.
Moreton Bay, in which Toondah Harbour is located, is internationally significant for Eastern Curlew. These birds exclusively roost and feed in coastal environments. Based on BirdLife Australia’s historical counting data, Moreton Bay is the single most important site for Eastern Curlew in Australia, supporting up to 6.5% of the world’s population.
Over the past 30 years, the population of Eastern Curlew has declined by over 80%, resulting in their uplisting to Critically Endangered.
The Proposal area and the species that inhabit it are protected under numerous international conventions and agreements including:
Watch the ABC 4 Corners Extinction Nation program which detailed the Toondah Harbour development proposal and its impacts to threatened shorebirds.
Australia's migratory shorebirds are incredible, many flying to and from the Northern Hemisphere every year. But sadly, because of the destruction of their habitats, hunting, and disturbance, their numbers have declined greatly.
Far Eastern Curlews are the largest of the world’s shorebirds, and are 'Critically Endangered'. With an impressive long bill