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An application to convert an ancient indigenous landmark into a World Heritage site has been delayed after the government accidentally sent a low-resolution map of the area for reading.
The mistake led to 40,000-year-old rock art on Western Australia’s remote Burrup Peninsula being rejected for UNESCO World Heritage status, with officials unable to determine its boundaries.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s office said her application submitted in January faced challenges due to UNESCO’s inability to understand indigenous boundaries.
However, World Heritage officials in Paris insisted that the low-resolution map created a “vagueness” that “did not guarantee full protection of indigenous lands.”
Now the site will not be considered again until at least 2025, as local activist groups continue to lobby against industrial projects in the area that threaten its existence.
Western Australia’s remote Burrup Peninsula (pictured) has had its initial application for inclusion on the World Heritage List delayed due to a mapping error made by the government.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s office said UNESCO could not understand the indigenous borders, but officials in Paris insisted this was because of the low-resolution map (file image).
Ms. Plibersek’s staff attempted to save face by claiming that “issues related to map boundaries and topography” were to blame for the application’s rejection.
“The cultural landscape nomination encompasses lands and seas, which is a difficult concept to fit into Western concepts of borders,” a spokesperson said. told Yahoo.
When approached for comment, the UNESCO World Heritage Center called the Environment Minister’s bluff and corrected the record.
“This statement is incorrect,” a spokesperson for the Center said.
‘The map was in low resolution (and) therefore, the UNESCO World Heritage Center referred the file to the State Party precisely because the vagueness of the site’s boundaries did not guarantee full protection of indigenous lands and cultural knowledge compared to the industrial projects carried out in this area.’
Shortly after the original application was submitted, UNESCO contacted the Australian government to discuss the problematic paperwork.
Had it been submitted correctly, the Burrup Peninsula could have been considered for World Heritage status in 2024, but that has now been delayed by at least a year.
The site features 40,000-year-old rock art that is eroding due to airborne emissions from nearby industrial sites, indigenous elders say.
Plibersek last year ordered a formal investigation into the impact of industrial emissions in the area, but its findings have not yet been published.
While the application has been resubmitted, former Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation chairperson Raelene Cooper said the site will continue to face destruction.
“We have been trying to secure World Heritage status for Murujuga for decades; my community and elders have been repeatedly betrayed by government promises during that time,” he said in a statement on Monday.
“There are no more animals or bush medicines in Burrup, all you see now is dust and chaos as these massive projects destroy our sacred sites.”
There are over a million pieces of rock art found in the Murujuga area of WA, making it the largest collection of its kind in the world.
This figure has dropped in recent years due to industrial emissions that have caused rock surfaces to disintegrate, indigenous elders say.
Plibersek ordered a formal investigation into the impact of industrial emissions on the Burrup Peninsula in 2022, but its findings have not yet been published.