International Day of the Tropics

Australia will lead efforts to establish the 29th of June as the International Day of the Tropics.

Growth and development in the tropics are critical to global prosperity. Covering more than 40 per cent of the world's surface, the tropics are home today to over three billion people; by 2050 50 per cent of the world's population will live in tropical regions.

An International Day of the Tropics will highlight the challenges and opportunities facing the world's tropical regions and promote greater collaboration between countries to secure a more prosperous future.

Professor Sandra Harding, Vice Chancellor of James Cook University, has worked tirelessly to draw attention to the central importance of the tropics. The Australian Government will work with James Cook University and our international partners to build support for the proposal, before submitting it to the UN General Assembly next year.

This initiative builds on the Australian Government's commitment to develop Northern Australia and unlock its huge untapped economic potential by implementing the Our North, Our Future White Paper, released earlier this year.

James Cook University was the driving force behind the ground-breaking State of the Tropics report, which was launched by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on 29 June 2014.