Daintree Delights
/Walking in the Daintree Rainforest, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped back in time to millions of years ago. It covers about 1200km2 of hilly terrain that makes up the northeast coast of Queensland.
Stretching down to the edge of the ocean in places and fringing remote white-sand beaches, this impressive rainforest is part of the UNESCO-listed Wet Tropics of Queensland and part of the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest in Australia.
Did you know you can visit this incredible rainforest whilst diving the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns? It's just a short bus ride away.
Find out more in my latest article for Forest and Bird magazine, Daintree Delights.
A study in the Marine Policy journal (May 2018) has demonstrated how important human attitudes towards sharks are for effective shark conservation. The study assessed attitudes towards sharks in the Galapagos Marine Reserve and showed that an understanding of the environmental role of sharks and how dangerous (or not) they appeared to be, had the greatest influence on peoples’ attitudes towards conserving them. Having knowledge of, or experience with, sharks also influenced attitudes. It was clear that shark conservation initiatives need to focus on creating positive attitudes towards sharks in order to gain peoples’ support to conserve them. As Baba Dioum put it: "In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." Education and positive experiences with sharks are key tools in successful shark conservation and the Galapagos Islands are an ideal destination to undertake both. 
