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Updated: February 12, 2010
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What the experts say about Cape York
“The Cape York Peninsula must be one of the most complex regions still left on earth.”
Peter Stanton, World Wilderness Conference 1980
“Cape York Peninsula is a treasure house of biodiversity”
Dr Brendan Mackey, Prof Henry Nix, Peter Hitchcock, 2001
“Cape York Peninsula is one of Australia's key conservation areas”
CYPLUS, Australian Heritage Commission and Queensland government, 1995
"To a biologist, Cape York Peninsula is one of the most exciting places on Earth. It is the product of a unique evolutionary partnership between Australia and New Guinea, a place where cuscus and kangaroos live side-by-side." Prof Tim Flannery
Over the past 30 years, a number of influential reports and assessments have highlighted the World Heritage values of Cape York Peninsula.
- Mangrove Seedling, Cape York Peninsula. Photo: Kerry Trapnell
One of the Earth's last wild places
In 2003, Conservation International (CI) released the most recent inventory of remaining wilderness areas on earth. This report was based on a major project undertaken by CI’s Centre for Applied Biodiversity Science during the period 2001 – 2003. It was informed by contributions by 200 scientists from around the world.
This research project identified 37 major wilderness areas on the planet. Five major wilderness areas were identified in Australia. These areas were the south west Tasmania, the Australian Deserts, the Kimberley region, Arnhem Land and Cape York Peninsula.
The wilderness value of Cape York was underlined by the recognition that of the 37 identified global wilderness areas, only Antarctica and Arnhem Land had lower population densities.
A link with Papua New Guinea
Cape York tells an amazing story of Gondwana Land and the time when Papua New Guinea and Australia were linked. Animals such as the Cuscus and the Green Python as well as many other plant and animal species are found both in Papua New Guinea and Cape York but nowhere else. In 1972, Walker wrote the key book on this shared history, Bridge to Barrier: the natural and cultural history of Torres Strait explaining that Cape York Peninsula holds an amalgam of the megadiverse Australian biota and the megadiverse New Guinea biota. This is of World Heritage significance.
“Much of the evidence for this dramatic creation of a new separate sub-continent is found in the largely intact landscapes of Cape York Peninsula… Whilst climatic change and associated rising sea levels have created new islands around the world, none of these phenomena are of such scale, complexity and scientific interest as that of the on-going physical and biological separation of New Guinea from Australia. This phenomenon is of continental, regional and global significance”.
- The Natural Heritage Significance of Cape York Peninsula (2001), Dr. Brendan Mackey, Emeritus Professor Henry Nix and Peter Hitchcock
"To a biologist, Cape York Peninsula is one of the most exciting places on Earth. It is the product of a unique evolutionary partnership between Australia and New Guinea, a place where cuscus and kangaroos live side-by-side." Prof Tim Flannery
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
In 1982, to mark 10 years of the operation of the World Heritage Convention, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) produced a list of the 219 natural sites worldwide that should be included on the World Heritage list. In total, 13 sites were identified in Australia. As of 2007, only three of these have not be added to the World heritage list. These are the Channel Country, South-western WA and Cape York Peninsula.
Australian and Queensland Governments – CYPLUS
During the 1990s the Commonwealth and Queensland governments conducted a huge study and public consultation called the Cape York Peninsula Land Use Study or CYPLUS. This study drew together much of the information and reports on Cape York’s natural and cultural significance as well as generating a lot of new data. The report on conservation values of Cape York documents its superlative values.
“Cape York Peninsula is one of Australia’s key conservation areas. Its dunefields and deltaic fan deposits are amongst the best developed in the world, while the biogeography and evolutionary relationships of the plants and animals to the biota of New Guinea provides important insights into the evolutionary history of Australasia. In a national context, Cape York Peninsula is a key area for wilderness, heathland, rainforest, riparian, and wetland conservation. The Peninsula also contains some of Australia’s highest concentrations of rare and threatened species as well as restricted endemics. It is also an important area for species richness, and is particularly rich for invertebrates, freshwater fish, mangroves, seagrass and orchids. The combination and extent of these features of national significance result in much of the study area being of international conservation significance."
- Executive Summary, Areas of Conservation Significance on Cape York Peninsula, Australian Heritage Commission and Office of the Co-ordinator general of Queensland.
Statement of significance
In 2000, the Queensland Government commissioned three leading scientists, Dr. Brendan Mackey, Emeritus Professor Henry Nix and Peter Hitchcock, to produce a "statement of significance" outlining the natural values of Cape York. This report, The Natural Heritage Significance of Cape York Peninsula (2001), concluded that it is the “integrity of natural systems and processes over such a vast area across entire watersheds, that gives Cape York Peninsula its unique character and global environmental significance” and that “ a substantial proportion has the potential to qualify as World Heritage”.
Savannah stronghold
Beginning in 1994, the World Heritage Committee developed a Global Strategy toward ensuring that the World Heritage list is balanced, representative and credible. It identified a number of key types of ecosystems under represented on the World Heritage list these included - tropical/temperate grasslands, savannahs, lake systems, tundra and polar systems, and cold winter deserts.
Tropical savannah once stretched across Africa, Asia and South America. Today however 70% of these woodlands have been cleared and those which remain are mostly seriously degraded. Australia has the most extensive, and least disturbed tropical savannah left in the world and Cape York's savannah woodlands are the most diverse in the country. Cape York’s savannah is of World Heritage value in itself.
Valentine Report
In 2006, the Queensland Government commissioned World Heritage expert, Assoc Professor Peter Valentine from James Cook University to investigate whether there was a case for the World Heritage listing of Cape York Peninsula and to explore possible boundaries and paths to its delivery.
For more information, please contact:
Cape York World Heritage Campaigner
The Wilderness Society Qld Inc - Brisbane
67 Boundary Street (upstairs)
West End, QLD, 4101
Phone: 07 3846 1420
