The politics of an endangered ecosystem
From CCWILD Wiki
The extraordinary survival of the rainforests of the Daintree makes them invaluable, and yet it is their rarity and sheer unlikelihood that attracts over 400,000 visitors per year, underpinning a $400 million tourism economy. The dilemma created by this contradiction is of global importance.
International interest brings Australia’s management of the rainforests of the Daintree under the spotlight, which in turn attracts considerable political activity.
Local Government election campaigns are fought and won on the platform of ‘saving the Daintree’.
Likewise, State Government elections have contested the appropriateness of reticulating electricity supply to the Daintree Coast community. A recent amendment to the relevant Electricity Supply Authority has excluded this community service obligation. In response, the State Opposition has announced that it will reverse the decision if it wins the next election.
The Commonwealth Government has ultimate responsibility for Australia’s management of the World Heritage section of the rainforests of the Daintree. Its formal involvement is vested with the Wet Tropics Management Authority and also funded through mechanisms including the Wet Tropics Ministerial Council.
Commonwealth and State Governments have allocated millions of dollars to address ‘outstanding’ issues particularly associated with the freehold portion of the rainforests of the Daintree, providing almost perfect growing conditions for bureaucracies and consultancies.
Daintree freehold land was gazetted in 1897. During the 1930’s, families with pioneering spirit were encouraged to settle and farm 160-acre portions, to be converted to freehold as an incentive to stimulate economic recovery from the great depression.
The tropical climate was, and still is, suitable for fruit cropping and in establishing clearings for bananas, watermelons, pineapples and the like, red cedar or ‘red gold’ was discovered. The commercial timber industry that followed brought economic recovery to the North Queensland economy and food and security into the homes of its residents. Logging was the champion of the day.
In 1979, a large portion of the freehold area was subdivided into smaller allotments. Through the will of the government-of-the-day the total number of land parcels was increased to 1145.
The controversy of the construction of the Bloomfield Track, set against the backdrop of the dramatic landscape of the Daintree, was brought into Australian living rooms, at prime time and even focussed international interest on the scenic splendour of Cape Tribulation. The number of Australians visiting the Daintree increased as a consequence, to find amongst the beauty, complexity and the excitement, opportunities to purchase rainforest covered freehold land. The marketing strategy emphasised conservation through private ownership.
On the 9th December 1988, World Heritage listing was registered. Over 900,000 hectares of the Queensland’s Wet Tropics, approximately 70% of which is rainforest, was protected from commercial timber extraction under new Commonwealth legislation.
Whilst a majority was not, a relatively small portion of the total 8462 hectares of Daintree freehold land, was included within the 2% freehold portion of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
Political interest in the rainforests of the Daintree is compounded by the considerable lobbying influence of the national, state and regional tourism and conservation interests. As a consequence, the Daintree Coast community is overwhelmed by ever-increasing bureaucratic intervention.
In 2000, the Wet Tropics Ministerial Council allocated $150,000 and commissioned the Rainforest CRC, to undertake the ‘Daintree Futures Study’.
Cooperative Research Centres have been established to strengthen collaborative research links between industry, research organisations, educational institutions and government agencies.
The Rainforest CRC links the Wet Tropics Management Authority, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Queensland Department of Natural Resources, the Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, Tourism Council Australia – Queensland, Balkanu (the operational arm of the Cape York Land Council), the World Wildlife Fund Australia, CSIRO Wildlife & Ecology, Griffith, James Cook and Queensland Universities.
The final draft of the report recommended for the compulsory expropriation of development rights from current owners, for what the consultant team would seem to regard as the greater public interest. In many cases, the proposed expropriation is without appropriate compensation.
The Daintree freehold property market has been depressed by an earlier taxpayer-funded onslaught, the misnamed ‘Daintree Rescue Program’. Commonwealth and Queensland Governments allocated $23 million to address the most critical threats to the Daintree. Over-settlement was considered to be the most critical threat, yet only 7% of the properties were acquired and funding was used to support the mass-tourism market. On a per-property basis it would appear as though land is worth a great deal. In reality, though, Daintree property rights have been depressed to such an extent that landowners cannot find buyers to recover even a reasonable portion of their investment.
Legally questionable and disadvantageous ferry fees and the withholding of essential services and commercial activity permits have fragmented the marketplace and disenfranchised the host community from the economic incentives of stewardship.
National policy on the Environment ensures that environmental goals, having been established, should be pursued in the most cost effective way, by establishing incentive structures, including marketing mechanisms, which enable those best placed to maximise benefits and/or minimise costs to develop their own solutions and responses to environmental problems.
Expressing an environmental ethic in respect to the rainforests of the Daintree cannot be exceeded by the personal commitment to participate in its conservation by direct purchase and lifelong stewardship. Landowners within the Daintree Coast community are united in their love of the rainforest. To endure the peculiar hardships that are so unique to the rainforests of the Daintree is testimony to this unity.
A community of such committed stewards value-adds to the natural wealth of this amazing part of Australia. Their cost-effective enthusiasms and vigilance provides a protective line of defence that is integrated into the rainforests of the Daintree. They are the eyes and ears for the area’s protection. They are the recipients of rainforest secrets.
From a visitor’s perspective, the quality of the presentation and interpretation of the rainforests of the Daintree is supplemented by the first-hand expertise of a Daintree rainforest inhabitant. The perception that they have ‘lived the life’ rather than ‘read the book’ is highly regarded. This is particularly significant where the intimate secrets of the rainforest are revealed so slowly. Inspiring visitors to such an extent that they become ambassadors for the area’s conservation to perpetuity is achieved through the knowledgable presentation of an awe-inspiring environment.
Visitors are amazed by the outstanding world heritage values but are also extremely interested by the manner in which residents interact with their environment and how they go about stewardship.
At Cooper Creek Wilderness, guided and interpreted rainforest experiences are regulated so that the profundity of the Daintree is not lost through over-use, high impact or the introduction of artificial barriers and boardwalks.
The rainforests of the Daintree are living museums; ancient refuges for relictual species. Their universal significance is too important to be squandered on the quick return of ever-increasing growth in mass visitation. Rather, the rainforests of the Daintree deserve deliberation. Nature-lovers should luxuriate in their lush greenness and complexity. Natural historians should marvel at their antiquity and perseverance. But the opportunity will be short-lived if we display it as a theme park and continue to allow the destruction of its priceless world heritage treasures.
