by John Sinclair

A land rapidly losing its wildlife — Birds

This essay is the first of a series of planned reports discussing the Australian landscape and its natural environment and how it has become significantly impoverished especially in recent years.  

Queensland’s Fraser Island was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992 —  eight years before Sarawak ‘s Gunung Mulu National Park.  The fight to have Fraser Island World Heritage listed though started in 1974 and was a major public debate for almost two decades prior to its recognition.  It is therefore surprising that once it was listed the Queensland Government has allowed it to become so degraded that some people are now arguing that it needs to be placed on the World Heritage in Danger List.  

Location

Gunung Mulu Gunung National Park in Sarawak, Malaysia is a stunning World Heritage site inscribed for both the enormity and magnificence of its limestone caves and for its enormous biodiversity.  At 52,865 hectares Mulu is about a third the size of Fraser Island yet it has tremendous biodiversity.  It has daunting biodiversity of both plants andanimals.  It list 3,500  vascular plants alone.  That is at least five times as many plant species as found on Fraser Island). I was surprised to see Angiopteris evecta growing right outside the HQ offices.