World Heritage The Daintree Coast is special – it is the only place where
two World Heritage areas are located together in the one region — the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics Rainforest – are both found in Tropical North Queensland.
When the climate was cooler and drier in the Ice Ages, the rainforests of Australia became smaller and existed only in small damp refuges. These
rainforest refuges have continued to exist for over 100 million years. One of these refuges is located in the Daintree , where the rainforest is believed to more than 135 million years old — and is considered to be one of the most ancient and primitive in the world.
Many plants originated more than 120 million years ago in Gondwana, before Australia was separated from the super continent.
These rainforests are some of the
most significant ecosystems on the planet, and were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988 in recognition of their universal natural values as:
- an outstanding example of the major stages in the earth's evolutionary history;
- an outstanding example of significant ongoing ecological and biological processes;
- an example of superlative natural phenomena; and
- containing important and significant habitats for conservation of biological diversity.
There have been
many benefits to the Wet Tropics Rainforests being inscribed on the World Heritage List:
- increased tourist visitation;
- increases in employment opportunities;
- income for local communities;
- better management and protection of the place;
- increased scrutiny, given its internationally acknowledged significance.
For more information visit:
Wet Tropics World Heritage AreaWet Tropics of Queensland - World Heritage AreaGreat Barrier Reef - World Heritage Area