The social, cultural and economic significance of tropical aquatic ecosystems: a diversity of values

Abstract

[Extract] Australia's tropical aquatic ecosystems and the rich biodiversity they support are of social, cultural and economic value to residents, visitors and the international community (Stoeckl et al 2006a). These natural areas are of intrinsic value and, because they are in generally good health, they also provide many important ecological services upon which a range of human activities depend (Greiner et al 2009). The predominant regional industries-pastoral grazing, mining, Indigenous enterprises, fishing and tourism-all use and rely on the region's water resources and aquatic ecological processes in different ways. These industries, along with people's livelihoods and lifestyle practices-such as camping, swimming and fishing-are thus linked by land and water: they all need to consider the region's resources and biodiversity, with regard to access, quality, use and changes.