Why forests inspire: review of Australian tropical rainforests: science-values-meaning

Review of L. J. Webb and J. Kikkawa (eds.). 1990. Australian tropical raintorests: science - values - meaning. East Melbourne, Australia: CSIRO Publications. ix, 185pp., tables, figs, photos, index. Hardback: price $55 (Australian). ISBN 0-643-05055-8. The way Australian's treat their tropical rain forests is of global interest, not because this atypical Australian vegetation is any more unique than other tropical rain forests, but because Australia has advantages not shared by other nations with custodianship of this forest type. For this reason Australian tropical rain- forests is an important and timely book. The book is a collection of nineteen papers that were originally presented at the 57th ANZAAS conference in 1987. Recent political developments have dated some of the text. Nonetheless, it is a useful summary of the motivation and arguments for the ces- sation of logging within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area which was declared in December 1988.