As part of one of my courses, Conserving Tropical Rainforests, the class is conducting a field trip to the several sites with in the Daintree Rainforest area of the Wet Tropics World Heritage area. The sites include Mossman Gorge, Cow Bay, and Mardjja Boardwalk.
The goals of this trip include giving us practical hands on experience with a rapid assessment framework known as the Pressure-State-Response system, observing psychological impacts of tourism and development, and pressure fluxes between humans and their surroundings in a tropical rain forest.
The Pressure-State-Response system operates on a set of qualitative and quantitative criteria that define a given state the given environment is in and then tries to identify what pressures are acting on the environment (positive or negative) to determine what actions or responses a land managing group should take to the situation.
The Daintree Rainforest is the oldest continuously rain-forested land in Australia, and perhaps the world, as its location has been relatively stable even by geologic time.
It is home to the Kuku Yalanji people, residents of Cow Bay, ancient plants, and unique endemic species.
All of these combine to make the area significant for scientific and cultural value.
It should be an exciting an unique experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment