WHY SO SPECIAL?

The Kimberley region is of global importance. As a region, it has some of the largest intact natural areas left on the planet-comparable only with areas such as the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon rainforest.

The Indigenous cultural values of the Kimberley are also outstanding, with the Traditional Owners' ancient connections to their country continuing strongly through to the present day.

These unique connections and an intricate ecological and geographic knowledge of their land and sea country has been developed over tens of thousands of years and provides Traditional Owners with a highly valuable cultural map of their country.

Nearly twice the size of Victoria, the Kimberley's beauty is matched only by its enormous diversity - with stunning seas, deserts, myriad islands, sandstone gorges, mangroves, rainforests, savannahs and woodlands.

There is still much to learn about the Kimberley, but research to date indicates that the Kimberley's fringing reefs are vast and likely to rival the best in the world.

The Kimberley marine environment also acts as one of last remaining large and healthy refuges for many threatened and endangered species such as sharks, dugong, coastal dolphins, turtles and whales.

An estimated 22,000 Humpback whales - the world's largest population - make the Kimberley coast their home each year. These whales give birth and breed between Broome and Camden Sound and prepare for the annual migration to their Antarctic feeding grounds.

The coastal waters of the Kimberley also provide critical habitats for the newly discovered Snub-fin dolphin, and six of the world's seven species of marine turtles are found there. Roebuck Bay (next to Broome) plays host to hundreds of thousands of migratory shorebirds each year while dugong and sea turtles regularly feed on the Bay's extensive seagrass meadows.

On land, it's a similar story of rich animal life. Fauna surveys in the Kimberley have identified 72 native mammal species, 295 bird species, 178 reptile species and 51 amphibian species.

The Mitchell plateau features stunning gorges carved into the sandstone by the Mitchell River and has 45 mammal species including the rare Monjon (rock wallaby), endangered Gouldian Finch as well as hundreds of other bird species.

In fact, the north Kimberley is the only region in WA and one of the few in Australia where there are no extinctions of mammal species yet recorded.

UNDER PRESSURE, LITTLE PROTECTION

The region faces a number of serious, cumulative pressures, including climate change, large wild fires, feral animals and weeds, cattle grazing degradation and ad hoc and incompatible development.

Unless we take action now, these pressures will continue to grow unabated and lead to irreversible and widespread environmental degradation, with all the consequent social and economic impacts and costs.

Worse still, very little of the Kimberley is protected, with no state waters in protection and only around 12% of land managed for conservation.

For more information on the Kimberley - click here to see a detailed analysis "Environment NGO response to WA Governments Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy" June 2009.