The wet tropics world heritage area in north Queensland has been damaged by climate change in a manner “equivalent” to coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, the area’s management authority has said.
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| Mount Alexandra lookout with a view of the Daintree River mouth in north Queensland. Local authorities say the area’s tropical rainforest is in ‘accelerating decline’ due to climate change. |
In an extraordinary statement issued on Monday, the authority’s board said the tropical rainforest was in “accelerating decline” and that some of the area’s unique species were at imminent risk of extinction.
Last summer was the hottest on record.
“Extreme heat is the wet tropics world heritage area’s coral-bleaching event equivalent, with some mountain-adapted species, like the lemuroid ringtail possum, unable to survive even a day of temperatures above 29C,” the statement said.
Read the story from The Guardian by Ben Smee - “Climate change damage to Queensland's world heritage rainforest 'as bad as Great Barrier Reef’.”
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