Australia’s rainforests are a refuge of endemism and biodiversity, playing host to a diverse range of creatures from taxa found nowhere else on Earth. This relic of Australia’s past is continually threatened by deforestation, putting its unique assemblage of flora and fauna under threat.
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| Image source: earthwatch.org |
Millions of years ago, Australia was mostly covered in rainforest. It was part of a greater landmass that separated from the supercontinent Pangea during its breakup in the Mesozoic. This landmass, Gondwana, today lends its name to the remaining rainforest areas in the now island continent. The forests receded over the millennia due to the continent drying out.
Today, these forests are home to thousands of species of endemic wildlife that hail from a variety of backgrounds. This diversity was made possible due to the many different types of tropical rainforest environments present in the island continent. The state of Queensland alone contains all five major types of rainforest and includes the primeval Daintree, the oldest continually existing rainforest on Earth that plays host to some of the oldest plant families on Earth.
The real threat to the forests, however, began with the arrival of European colonists. These settlers felled these for timber and farmland, and today only a small fraction of these forests remain untouched today.
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| Image source: Tourism Queensland via unesco.org |
Efforts have been made to preserve the last of Australia’s primeval rain forests. Individuals like businessman Gregory Lindae, co-owner of the Bunda Bunderra Wildlife Nature Reserve, have taken steps to promote the conservation of rainforest areas and their threatened wildlife and raise awareness of the need to protect this vanishing relics and source of biodiversity through ecotourism.
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