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Historic Content you are reading content from a previous reporting year.

Showing 30 of 98 results

Soil: Salinity and acidification

2016
Land
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Land State and trends Murray Darling East Coast Greater Sydney Soil salinity Secondary dryland salinity has been one of Australia’s most...

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State and trends of soil acidification

2016, 2011
Land
State and trends
Assessment summary

Land State and trends Soil: Salinity and acidification Year...

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Figure LAN20 Rating and condition for soil acidity

2016
Land
State and trends
Map

Download as pngDownload dataset Note: Numbers on the map correspond to the regions listed in assessment summary: State and trends of soil acidification Source: State of the environment reports from states and territories Figure LAN20 Rating and condition for soil...

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Risks to the Antarctic environment 2016

2016
Antarctic environment
Risks
At a glance

At a glanceAs for other regions, distant human activities can contribute to the key risks to the Antarctic environment, including global population, economic pressures and the effects of climate change. Management can mitigate many of the population and economic impacts, and climate change...

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Pressures affecting Antarctic fisheries

2016, 2011
Antarctic environment
Pressures
Assessment summary

Antarctic environment Pressures Pressures on the marine environment Antarctica Year...

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Outlook for the Antarctic environment 2016

2016
Antarctic environment
Outlook
At a glance

At a glanceCurrently, the Antarctic environment is still in a comparatively good condition. However, the pressures on the continent and the surrounding ocean will increase. For example, the extraction of marine resources is not only going to continue but will intensify in the future. Most...

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Antarctic environment: 2011–16 in context

2016
Antarctic environment
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Antarctic environment Introduction Antarctica Since 2011, the Antarctic environment has continued to respond to global pressures from human activity. As is the case in other regions of the...

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Figure LAN18 Estimated lime application in Western Australia to treat acidifying soils, 2004–16

2016
Land
State and trends
Graph

Agricultural lime sales in Western Australia, 2004–2016 Agricultural lime sales in Western Australia, 2004–2016 Western australian agricultural lime sales figures ('000 tonne) 2004210 2005286 2006322 2007396 2008474 2009589 2010539 2011618...

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Pressures on the marine environment

2016
Antarctic environment
Pressures
Report Content
... than in subtropical waters. Increases in CO 2 cause ocean acidification through a series of chemical reactions that ...
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Anthropogenic ocean warming and ocean acidification, superimposed on natural climate variations, pose risks to Australia’s marine ecosystems and their habitats, communities and species groups

2016
Marine environment
Key Finding

2016Sea surface temperatures are continuing to increase, with surface ocean warming during the 21st century occurring at approximately 7 times the rate observed during the 20th century. The frequency of extreme sea surface temperature events has increased. Rising summer ocean temperatures...

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Pressures affecting Antarctic marine species

2016, 2011
Antarctic environment
Pressures
Assessment summary

Antarctic environment Pressures Pressures on the marine environment Antarctica Year...

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Figure LAN19 Estimated lime application on agricultural land in South Australia, 1998–2016

2016
Land
State and trends
Graph

Agricultural lime application in South Australia, 1998 - 2016 Agricultural lime application in South Australia, 1998 - 2016 Estimated lime use ('000 tonnes) 1998-199992 1999-2000116 2000-2001129 2001-02141 2002-03139 2003-04131 2004-05126 2005-...

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Land-use change, and habitat fragmentation and degradation threaten ecosystems and resilience

2016
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Pressures Land clearing is a fundamental pressure on the environment. It causes the loss, fragmentation and degradation of native vegetation, and a variety of impacts on our soils (e.g. erosion and loss of nutrients), waterways and coastal...

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Resilience of our climate

2016
Climate
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Climate Resilience The ability of the climate system to recover from changes to the composition of the atmosphere (particularly increasing CO2 concentrations) is complicated by the fact that the removal of CO2...

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Sustained ocean monitoring

2016
Marine environment
Outlook
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Outlook Great Barrier Reef Responding to a changing and increasingly modified environment, especially one where directing or modifying the trajectory of change is...

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State and trends of the Southern Ocean

2016, 2011
Antarctic environment
State and trends
Assessment summary

Antarctic environment State and trends The physical environment: The Southern Ocean Antarctica...

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Human influences on Antarctica

2016
Antarctic environment
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Antarctic environment Pressures Antarctica As detailed in the Drivers report, the key drivers of environmental change are population and economic growth. Antarctica, as the only continent...

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Overview of state and trends of the land

2016
Land
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Land State and trends Timor Sea Great Barrier Reef What has changed since 2011? The effects of the millennium drought in southern Australian (2000–10, although in...

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Climate change

2016
Heritage
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Heritage Pressures Murray Darling Tasmania Great Barrier Reef Marine North Greater Sydney...

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Resilience of the Antarctic environment 2016

2016
Antarctic environment
Resilience
At a glance

At a glanceAlthough organisms living in Antarctica have evolved to cope with severe events, it is challenging to measure their level of resilience and to predict how future climate change will affect Antarctic ecosystems. This is largely because our understanding of key parameters is still...

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Indirect (secondary and tertiary) effects of pressures on climate

2016
Climate
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Climate Pressures Timor Sea Great Barrier Reef Changes in temperature and precipitation, and extreme events trigger indirect effects of climate change on the...

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Risks to biodiversity 2016

2016
Biodiversity
Risks
At a glance

At a glanceEscalation of existing risks such as invasive species, climate change and changing fire regimes, and the interactions between these risks, will continue to exert significant and widespread changes on biodiversity. The importance of some risks, or at least the perception of those...

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Pressures affecting the marine environment 2016

2016
Marine environment
Pressures
At a glance

At a glanceAustralia’s marine environment is experiencing pressures from a wide range of sources that affect its habitats, communities, species and ecosystem functioning to varying degrees. With many pressures affecting the marine environment and its inhabitants at any one time, it can be...

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Climate change

2016
Marine environment
Pressures
Report Content
Anthropogenic ocean warming and ocean acidification, superimposed on natural climate ...
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Pressures affecting the environment

2016
Pressures
At a glance

To understand the state and trends of Australia’s environment, it is necessary to consider both the historical pressures that have had a profound impact on the environment, and the contemporary pressures that directly and indirectly influence the state of the environment. Historical changes...

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Pressures facing aquatic ecosystems

2016
Biodiversity
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Pressures In this report, we describe pressures facing biodiversity in general. However, pressures facing aquatic ecosystems are described in detail in the Coasts (coastal and estuarine ecosystems),...

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State and trends of the land environment 2016

2016
Land
State and trends
At a glance

At a glanceThe area of land managed for conservation has continued to expand, in both private and public sectors. This is partly due to a decrease in the area of native forest managed for production of timber and wood products. The area formally owned and managed by Indigenous Australians...

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Risks to the land environment 2016

2016
Land
Risks
At a glance

At a glanceThe predicted impacts of climate change pose the greatest risks to Australia’s land environment. These impacts include changes in the distribution and success of native species and ecosystems; the viability of some agricultural enterprises; and the impact of natural processes and...

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Outlook under a business-as-usual scenario

2016
Outlook
Report Content

2016 Outlook It is clear from SoE 2016 that some parts of Australia’s environment are not yet being managed sustainably. Although some uncertainties exist, assuming current trends continue and policies or management arrangements are not changed...

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Overview of state and trends of the atmosphere

2016
Atmosphere
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Atmosphere State and trends Climate What has changed since 2011? Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions per person decreased from 24.1 tonnes in 2011 (DCCEE 2012) to 22.2 tonnes in 2015 (DoE 2016a), although they...

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Australia State of the Environment 2016 has been prepared by independent experts using the best available information to support assessments of environmental condition, pressures, management effectiveness, resilience, risks and outlook.

This site is a major undertaking to improve the usability of SoE information. We are grateful for the support of users in our ongoing efforts to improve SoE reporting.  Please report problems with the site via our feedback page.

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Acknowledgment of Country

We, the authors, acknowledge the traditional owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community; we pay respect to them and their cultures and to their elders both past and present.

© Commonwealth of Australia 2017-2018

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