Are wetlands in northern Australia more important than in the south of the continent?
All wetlands provide important functions for the community, however, it could be argued that those in northern Australia are more important because they are still there, cover large areas of the coastal zone and most are still in good shape. In southern Australia a large proportion of the original natural wetlands have either been intentionally destroyed for other uses of the land or have been inadvertently damaged by other human activities (eg. river flow regulation, industrial pollution). Conversely, that argument makes the wetlands that remain in southern Australia even more important for conservation and the many less destructive uses humans make of wetlands. Hopefully the lessons learned from the recent past will ensure that mistakes made elsewhere will not be repeated in the north and further loss of southern wetlands will be prevented.
