Despite worldwide recognition of the need to save our rainforests, clearing of World Heritage value rainforest is still happening in the Daintree as landholders seek to profit from residential development.

“Ecosystems millions of years old in the Daintree are being pushed aside by bulldozers in minutes for development – is that right?” says Rainforest Rescue, a national not for profit organisation committed to protecting rainforests forever in Australia and throughout the world.

“While we are on the verge of buying and protecting our 10th property in the Daintree, we know of at least two properties that in recent month have been bulldozed to ‘improve’ the value of the landholding or meet their development approval,” says Kelvin Davies, Executive Officer of Rainforest Rescue.

“There is worldwide acknowledgement of the importance of rainforests, there are schemes around Australia planting trees to balance our carbon use, and we have property owners in Far North Queensland more concerned about creating development sites and knocking down the rainforest. In this great brown land of ours the Daintree is a small, precious green gem – it doesn’t make sense to keep knocking trees down.”

Rainforest Rescue believes that much acclaimed local government planning schemes and other legislation in place are insufficient to preserve the integrity of the Daintree rainforest. A number of Rainforest Residential Precincts exist in the heart of the Daintree. A number of blocks are now on the market with development rights and many more could join them at any time. It’s estimated that a further 100 rainforest properties remain unprotected and threatened by development.

Clearing in the Daintree is occurring to meet development approval requirements, often when there is no immediate intention of building and this adds to the destruction of wildlife corridors and plant and wildlife habitat

“For one of the properties we wanted to purchase and protect we offered the full asking price but the owner knocked us back, indicating he’s changed his mind and now plans to submit a development application, clear a building site then seek a higher price for it!” said Kelvin.

A property near the Rainforest Rescue Nature Refuge has been bulldozed within the 10 metre riparian zone along a creek. These properties contain World Heritage value rainforest being adjacent to the Daintree National Park and Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The Daintree lowland rainforest between the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation is home to over 120 rare and threatened species and is of international conservation importance – this is the area where development is occurring now.

“On the one hand we have thousands of people donating money to Rainforest Rescue to help us buy back the properties, and on the other, landholders are clearing and building houses,” said Kelvin.

“Australia really needs to completely stop, once and for all, the continuing destruction of habitat for the rare Bennett’s Tree Kangaroo, the endangered Cassowary and all other threatened species. Cassowary numbers are thought to be at an all time low, but no research has been done on population numbers for over ten years. It’s quite possible less than 1,000 remain in all of Australia,” says biologist David Cook who is Rainforest Rescue’s Project Officer in the Daintree.

“Not only does clearing destroy habitat, it provides the environment for the invasion of weeds -. There is a considerable amount of cleared land already in the Daintree now neglected and choked with a mix of Giant Bramble, Guinea Grass, Lantana and other weeds.

The vast majority of Australian’s would prefer to see the Daintree preserved. The question is why in 2008 are we still allowing clearing of even small parts of the Daintree? In truth the majority of Australian’s believe the Daintree rainforest is protected, sadly that’s not the case.

With donations from the community Rainforest Rescue has been buying back and conserving properties. We are calling on existing owners of properties in the Daintree not to develop but to sell them to Rainforest Rescue and so they become Nature Refuges.

“We need to buy back and protect as many properties as possible so we need more government, business and community support to reimburse these land ‘owners’,” said Kelvin Davies.

“The community is doing a great job of saving the Daintree,” says Kelvin, “and governments may feel they’ve done enough but clearly that’s not the case. Further funding is required to protect the Daintree for future generations.”