2. Why Study the Wet Tropics?

By studying the Wet Tropics, we can sort out what individuals, communities and governments value.The history of the Wet Tropics reveals that people value the Wet Tropics in different ways. In fact, the Wet Tropics is still at times a bit of a battleground, where different people with different values hope for different futures for the Wet Tropics.

Sometimes, decisions about the Wet Tropics are agreed upon by nearly everybody. At other times, decisions over the Wet Tropics reveal deep-seated differences in our values. When people hold different feelings towards a Wet Tropics decision (or potential decision like the Kuranda Range Road upgrade) that’s when we have an issue worth investigating.

So really, a study of the Wet Tropics is really a study of the values that influence people’s decisions. The fact that the Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) has paid big money to create this educational resource is something you also need to consider. They want you to share some of their values for two reasons. First, if you share their values, there’s a good chance you’ll want to help the Wet Tropics survive. Second, if you share their values, WTMA’s job of managing the Wet Tropics becomes a bit easier for them.