A conservation scientist in West Australia says he is concerned increased emissions from industry will accelerate decay at the world’s largest rock art gallery.
Dr Ian MacLeod, a former executive director of the West Australian Maritime Museum, recently voiced his concerns about the impact of emissions on the Burrup Peninsula engravings.
The prolific ancient engravings on the peninsula and the Dampier Archipelago – many of which depict animals no longer in the region such as the Tasmanian tiger – is on the World Monument Fund’s list of 100 Most Endangered Places in the world.
Local fertiliser plant Yara Pilbara is one of the emitters targeted for stricter conditions by group Friends of Australian Rock Art, who say a proposed new facility to produce ammonium nitrate will simply add to the problem.
A Senate committee inquiry into the rock art and industrial pollution, initiated by the Greens, has been welcomed by Yara Pilbara manager Rob Steven, who says the plant complies with state and federal standards.
