You compare that with the Amazon Basin, there are 9 of these primitive flowering plants and none of those are only found there. So even though this is a very small area of rainforest, it is very, very important. Over the last century much of the area has been logged or cleared, for farming and housing. Changes to the forest are nothing new, but climate has forced dramatic changes over thousands of years, but the impact of modern life has brought damage to the whole eco-system. Scientists, in different areas of research, are now working together, to study the evolution of the forest, to better understand how to prevent further damage.
Research is really vital here.
Because the rainforests are quite small, there are a lot of other uses of the land surrounding the rainforests and the resources that we have here are very vital. Particularly such as water resources. We need to understand about how the rainforests originated here in the wet tropics and just how dynamic they are. How much they can change over short periods of time. What, for example, will be the implications of climate change on these rainforests.