Rio Tinto is committing A$28m (£14.5m) to build a "toad containment zone" to keep cane toads out of the Pilbara region of Western Australia, according to a BBC Business report. The mining company is working with Curtin University in Perth and other partners on the project.
The plan would cut off the toads' water supply across 7,500 sq km of land between the Great Sandy Desert and the Indian Ocean. The report says the cane toad needs water every few days in drier months, and that the funding will stop the toads reaching dams, storage tanks and other ground-level water sources. The five-year project is set to begin in 2027.
The report says the toads produce toxins lethal to native wildlife. It names the northern quoll, the goanna lizard and the ghost bat as species at risk if the toads reach the Pilbara.
Ben Phillips, a professor at Curtin University, said the toads would reach the Pilbara within two decades without action. Roberta Hunter, a ranger in the Nyangumarta Warrarn Indigenous Protected Area, said: "When toads come close to our country, we want to be there to stop them because we don't want the country to be destroyed."
The report notes that the cane toad is not a direct threat to Rio Tinto's business. It also states that the company previously faced criticism for destroying two sacred Aboriginal rock shelters in the Pilbara, a decision that cost its former chief executive his job. Rio Tinto has committed to rebuilding trust with Indigenous communities.
According to the Australian government, the toads were introduced in 1935 to control beetles in the sugar cane industry and have since spread west at 40 km to 60 km a year.