Clean up the Dark

Clean up the Dark is an international programme aimed at cleaning up our caves and underground streams from pollution caused by humans. It is part of the Clean up the World international day which takes place on 20th September each year.

It is generally known that 'karst landscapes cover over 15% of the world's ice-free land (Goldscheider et al., 2020) The aquifers found in karst landscapes supply drinking water to nearly 10% of the global population (Stevanovic, 2018) —some 800 million people'.

In Australia, our karst aquifers are under a high degree of threat from overuse by mining and agricultural practices.(Harrington & Cook, 2014) These aquifers include those of the Ottaway basin, Victoria, the Daly Rivers Basin Northern Territory and the Kimberly area of Western Australia.

Conservation practices used in protecting and caring for caves and karst must take into account the living ecosystems found within these evolving landscapes. These geo-ecosystems are fragile and once destroyed are gone forever.

Using cave entrances as rubbish dumps causes leaching of pollutants into soils and waterways, distrupts airflows, and restricts and or prevents the movement of cave dwelling animals, such as bats into and out of caves. Such practices also provide homes to feral species such as cats, rabbits and invasive weeds which further impact karst ecosystems.

Photo: © C. Buswell

Photo: © C. Buswell