Daintree rainforest

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  • Daintree tropical  Rainforest
    • location
      • northern Queensland Australia
      • runs adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef
      • covers 900,000 hectares
    • What's it like?
      • over 135 million years old
        • oldest rainforest in the world
      • home to the most primitive plants
        • 12 out of 19
      • over 3500 vascular plants
      • Australia's largest range of ferns
      • contains the most endemic species in Australia
        • eg cassowary
      • 65% of Australia's bat and butterfly species
      • low range of temperatures
        • rarely goes above 36 degrees in the day and below 22 degrees at night
      • 120 days of rain
        • annual rainfall of 2000 mm
    • Goods and Services
      • carbon sequestration
        • vegetation acts as a global carbon sink
        • carbon held in leaves, branches, roots and stems of plants- reducing pollution and regulating climate
      • People of the rainforest
        • Kuku Yalanji aboriginal people
        • Natural features are interwoven with the peoples religion, spiritually, economic use such as food, medicine and tools and for social and moral organisation
      • medicine
        • 25% of drugs
        • daintree rainforest has provided chemicals used to treat diabetes, malaria and heart conditions
      • tourism
        • attracts nearly half a million tourists a year
        • vistors come for the scenery, the unique combination of the coast, rainforest and mountains
        • biodiversity on land and coasts eg Great barrier reef
      • logging
        • timber industry began in the 1980's
        • logging is unsustainable
        • catalyst for carbon consumption
    • Stakeholders
      • government buying private land to conserve
        • will cost $15 million
        • buying land north of the Peninsula
      • wet tropics management authority
        • set policies and procedures which govern the activities and land use of the wet tropics
      • Kuku Yalanji people
        • they follow seasonal cycles and move their camps when the seasons change
          • maximises gathering of food and hunting as well as allowing the natural habitat to recover
      • Businesses
        • Daintree ice cream company
          • sell homemade tropical ice cream made with fruits from daintree
      • international researchers
        • home to a number of rare plants and animals
          • cassowary
        • attracts attention from scientists researching biology
      • tourists
        • world heritage site and has the highest biodiversity in Australia
          • important that its sustained for future generations of tourists
        • benefit locals by increasing income
      • hospitals and drugs
        • 25% of drug products
        • many tropical plants have been identifies as having anti-cancer properties
    • conflicting views
      • businesses and researchers
        • businesses needs certain products which are in short supply
        • Researchers want to research these products before they become extinct
        • eg tropical plants
      • loggers and conservationists
        • trees are habitats for many animals and act as carbon sink
          • helps to reduce climate change and pollution
          • cause an affect on a global scale
        • loggers might also ruin the natural habitat and put of tourists by reducing wildlife
          • companies such as daintree ice cream company will have less foot fall to trade with
          • natural features of the rainforest in everyday life for religion, medicine and tools
            • disturbed by researchers and possibly school trips
  • set policies and procedures which govern the activities and land use of the wet tropics

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