Tropical Rainforests are a precious natural resource. Whilst they only account for approximately 6% of the Earth’s total surface, they are home to an amazing diversity of fauna and flora, much of which is not found anywhere else.

Tropical Rainforests are a living asset for us all, they:

• Provide homes to more than 50% of the Earth’s species
• Are a living museum of what the Earth’s vegetation used to look like, 50-100 million years ago
• Provide inspiration and excitement to millions of visitors every year
• Purify our water and clean our air
• Represent a biological treasure chest of chemicals and genes that could provide important drugs and industrial compounds for future generations

Australia’s World Heritage listed Tropical Rainforests

Australia’s Tropical Rainforests occupy a small coastal strip in North Queensland, stretching between Cooktown and Townsville. They cover approximately 900,000 hectares of land, accounting for 0.1% of our country’s total land mass.

They were World Heritage listed in 1988 and are home to:

• 58 frog species [25% of Australia’s frog species]
• 110 mammal species [36% of Australia’s mammal species]
• 327 bird species [50% of Australia’s bird species]
• 64 native fish species [37% of Australia’s freshwater fish species]
• 2,300 plant species [11% of Australia's plant species]
• 660 plant species found no where else in the world
• 50 species of primitive flowering plants found no where else in the world
• 46 fern species found no where else in the world [accounting for 65% of Australia’s fern species]