Wildlife Australia Magazine

Conserving the known unknowns

THERE ARE examples in this edition of challenges that increasingly face conservationists of the natural world. Let’s call them ‘known unknowns’.

Any time humankind expands its footprint – geographically or, increasingly, technologically – there will be some effect on the natural world. That is known. Whether it is positive, or negative, or has no measurable effect, that is unknown.

Take Australia’s quest for Net Zero emissions using wind farms in remote areas. From a ‘clean energy’ standpoint, the ‘knowns’ are mostly positive. The bigger and better designed they are, the more electricity they produce reliably – and often after dark when the solar panels are asleep.

They are remote from townships, so the whine of blades and turbines does not disturb. This is a known known for the wind generation industry. But it is a ‘known unknown’ for Australia’s ecosystems and wildlife.

What is known is that Australian native animals communicate in unique ways – and in unique tones. The low range frequencies, at which koalas and gliders communicate, fall into the spectrum emitted by industrial wind farms.

This is an under-researched known unknown.
In North Queensland, where these farms are planned for large swathes of koala and glider ridgetop habitats, research shows koalas avoid these wind farm clusters by distances of up to 4km.

Wildlife ecologist Roger Martin, who tested these wind farm areas for changes in wildlife behaviour, is calling for a halt to all windfarm construction until the results of this research are written into the terms of Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

For the EPBC Act, this is a known unknown that must be updated so wind farms know how to comply.

Otherwise the ‘known known’ outcome from such a situation will be like so many others: known negative for wildlife.