"He had an absolute focus on bread and butter issues, and because of that was able to focus on visionary things, like building the Royal theatre, or fixing up the historic buildings at Macquarie street, saving the rainforests, introducing anti-discrimination laws, but above all I think saving the rainforest," Carr said.
It's concerning to me that we have an ideologically driven prime minister who has no empathy for the wonder of the natural world, from our reefs to our rainforests.
Mangroves are one of the most threatened habitats in the world with an annual loss of 1% 2%, outpacing other tropical rainforests.
Rainforests in Indonesia's Sumatra are also on the danger list, thanks to poachers, road building and illegal logging.
But while they may transform the ocean, the atmosphere and the terrestrial environment, they inhabit a world that is barely known and which has only recently been understood to be as complex and diverse as anything found in the rainforests.
Watch a turtle nesting, explore the world's oldest rainforests, bathe in mud volcanoes... this new family group tour combines wildlife, culture, education and adventure.
It's a land of rainforests (Indio Maíz biological reserve is the largest area of virgin rainforest north of the Amazon), lakes and volcanoes, with deserted beaches, unspoilt colonial cities and incredible wildlife.
According to one estimate, tropical rainforests contain around half of all the world's species far more than the temperate forests of Europe and America.
There is also a high risk that coca will simply move on: already it is being planted in the inaccessible rainforests along the Pacific coast.In Putumayo, the government is spending $50m on improving roads, but the biggest question mark is security.
The struggle to save the rainforests leads to a clash of conflicting interests.
The use of palm oil as a substitute for diesel may appear environmentally attractive, but the destruction of biologically rich rainforests would more than outweigh the gains.
