General Overview Of Kakadu National Park

Kakadu National Park:

Located somewhere between paradise and your imagination is the breathtaking Kakadu National Park.

Kakadu National Park covers over 20,000 square kilometres of biodiversity and is filled with picturesque scenes full of wildlife and is home to sacred and cultural Aboriginal rock art. Kakadu can be found in the Northern Territory and is 211 kilometres from Darwin.

Creation:

According to the Bininj tribe, the Rainbow Serpent created the holes and passageways of Kakudu. Another creator is believed to be Namarrgon, responsible for harsh storms. His rock art painting can be found throughout the National Park.

Climate:

The average climate of Kakadu is 34-35 degrees Celsius and at night can drop to 24 degrees Celsius.

Flora:

Kakadu is rich in Flora diversity with 416 native plants, some including: Anbinik, Kakadu plum, Pandanus, just to name a few.

Fauna:

Same with the flora, Kakadu has a very diverse range of fauna with over 250 species of birds and is home to over 117 species of reptiles.

Occupation:

Kakadu is and has always been Bininj land. They also protect Kakadu and its cultural values.

Section 2

Kakadu National Park is a vast landscape with many cultural and natural values; for Bininj people, Kakadu is home to many sacred animals and paintings.

The stakeholders in Kakadu National Park are Kakadu National Park Tours, Ranger Uranium Mine and the Bininj people. The tourists and miners have the same interest of money whereas the Bininj people want to keep the land sacred and theirs. The tourists want to keep Kadadu as the same beautiful place that it is, where as the miners want to destroy the park for its extremely beneficial Uranium. In 2004, 48 miners drank and showered in water that contained 400 times the recommended amount of Uranium, putting them in danger. The tourists are interested in the aesthetic and environmental value of Kakadu, while the Bininj people want to keep Kakadu cultural and spiritual for their tribe as to not upset the gods and give their children the childhood they had received. All of these stakeholders wanting to use Kakadu National Park for their own benefit leads to conflict. Below is a table that shows the interests of the stakeholders. Currently the mining industry isn’t mining in Kakadu but close to the area. This is still affecting the park as in 2017 an oil spill happened and over 1,000,000 litres of oil seeped into the river polluting it and all the animals inside.

A positive of the way Kakadu is being managed is that the flora and fauna are being monitored and kept under control. A negative would be that Kakadu has a Uranium mine around.

Section 3

To ensure Kakadu National Parks sustainability we need to make a plan to keep the amount of radiation in check, it should be strictly under 200 sieverts before it gets dangerous. Constant checks are required to make sure the feral animals are safe and protected from the radioactivty and tourists. We also feel that the weed removing program should be continued as to not destroy and overwhelm Kakadu’s natural beauty. It is important we maintain Kakadu Bininj land, as it originally belonged to them and they haven’t shown any hostility to tourists.

A way we could do this is keep restrictions on land, enforce harsh penalties for any hunting or attacks on any of the native animals and to let the Bininj people continue to light fires so as to protect: food resources, cultural significance and to signal the others. Another way would be to just close the park to all forms of tourism but this would be a loss to us all and impractical for the government as they will no longer make any money from tourism at Kakadu.

Many Stakeholders hold different roles such as Non-Government Organisations who work to keep the park safe and still firmly controlled by and for the Bininj people.

The government has an interest in keeping Kakadu safe as they benefit from the mine still working whilst the tourism dollars continue to stack up. As for the businesses, the Ranger Uranium Mine want to continue to mine Kakadu and its surrounds for its Uranium and Kakadu National Park Tours want to maintain its tourist industry and keep the tourist numbers up whilst promoting and advertising the natural beauty of Kakadu. The indigenous leaders want their children to grow up the Bininj way, learning their own cultural form of education and maintaining Kakadu in their control.

The tourists want to make sure Kakadu remains Bininj land, safe for them to explore with a guide as they do not want to upset the local animals or Bininj people. Tourists want to protect the park of its sacred sites and to protect the park from overdevelopment. They want to appreciate Kakadu National Park for it’s natural beauty and picturesque views and we all want to maintain this for future generations so it is safe to enjoy for the thousands of tourists that come to Kakadu National Park every year. In saying this the tourists also have many negative factors as there have been cases where they have littered around the park, and have left a bad Carbon Footprint.

Two stakeholders that have the same idea as myself would be the tourists and the Bininj as they both agree that Kakadu should still be Bininj land and harsher penalties should be placed on those who break these rules. Some of the obstacles of making Kakadu a greater home to the Bininj people could be, the fire hazards that arise from the ritual of burning and the loss of money from tourism and mining. It’s hard to suit everybody but with my suggestion of harsher and tighter control on the mine and for Kakadu to become a better home for the Bininj people it’s believed that that is the fairest and best way to organise this.

This means that there will not be many issues because as long as the mine is still operating and Kakadu is still Bininj land all will be the same as before, just with a better environment for the park. Some of the stakeholders that may help us would be the Bininj people as they would agree with my ideas of making Kakadu theirs and ultimately improving Kakadu.

Bibliography:

Websites used:

1. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/147 Anonymous Kakadu National Park – UNESCO world heritage centre Year Published – 2012
2. https://northernterritory.com/kakadu-and-surrounds/destinations/kakadu-national-park Anonymous Things to do in Kakadu and surrounds Year published – unknown
3. https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/1f88c5a3-409c-4ed9-9129-ea0aaddd4f33/files/kakadu-management-plan-2016-2026.pdf Barnes, Sally Kakadu National Park Year published – 2016
4. http://www.bom.gov.au/places/nt/G6SM/ Unknown Kakadu weather Year published – 2019
5. https://overland.org.au/2014/09/uranium-mining-waste-and-indigenous-australia/ Bryant, Katerina Uranium mining, waste and Indegenous Australia Year published – 2014