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

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Figure LAN29 Vegetation assets, states and transitions (VAST) classification of Australian vegetation

2016
Land
State and trends
Map

Download as pngDownload dataset Source: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, National Scale Vegetation Assets, States and Transitions 2008, used underCC BY 3.0   Figure LAN29 Vegetation assets, states and transitions (VAST) classification...

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Resilience of the built environment 2016

2016
Built environment
Resilience
At a glance

At a glanceFor the built environment, resilience refers to the capacity of the built environment to retain or recover its structure, functions and amenity after experiencing shocks. Historically, Australian cities have coped reasonably well with disaster events such as storms or floods, and...

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Overview of resilience of the built environment

2016
Built environment
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Built environment Resilience Because climate-related and weather-related risks have always been present, governments and private parties have fairly well-established institutional, governance and policy frameworks...

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Risk-based methods for prioritising management

2016
Coasts
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Coasts Effectiveness of management Greater Sydney Authorities charged with managing the coast are increasingly adopting risk-based methods to inform decision-making. In risk-based...

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The built environment puts pressure on the natural environment and affects the lives of its residents

2016
Built environment
Key Finding

2016  The built environment puts pressure on the natural environment, primarily by using land, water and energy resources, as well as through the waste and emissions produced by these consumptive activities. The structure, form and function of the built environment, as well as the quality...

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Figure LAN30b Extent of modification of major vegetation groups, as assessed by vegetation assets, states and transitions (VAST) where (a) shows the percentage of modification; and (b) shows the extent of major vegetation groups, pre-1750

2016
Land
State and trends
Graph

(b) extent of major vegetation groups, pre-1750 Extent of major vegetation groups (pre 1750) as assessed by VAST Extent of major vegetation groups (pre 1750) as assessed by VAST pre 1750 veg (M ha) Eucalypt Open Forests35.49 Eucalypt Low Open Forests1.21...

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Land and water use and management

2016
Inland water
Risks
Report Content

2016 Inland water Risks Murray Darling Risks from changes to land management arise mainly through potential hydrological and water quality changes, whereas those from water management relate to...

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Vegetation

2016
Land
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Land State and trends Tasmania   Forests and woodlands together represent about 16 per cent of the area of the Australian continent (124.7 million hectares); of this, 41 per cent is in...

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Introduction 2016

2016
Marine environment
Introduction
At a glance

At 13.86 million square kilometres, Australia’s marine environment is the third largest marine jurisdiction in the world (Symonds et al. 2009). It is home to a diverse array of marine species, including marine mammals and reptiles; more than 4000 species of fish; and tens of thousands of...

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Introduction

2016
Built environment
Introduction
At a glance

‘Built environment’ refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for people to live, work and recreate. It encompasses physical buildings and parks, and their supporting infrastructure such as transport, water and energy networks. Human wellbeing is affected by the built...

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Introduction 2016

2016
Coasts
Introduction
At a glance

Australia’s coastal zone holds tremendous national significance. It contains many of the country’s most prized environmental and ecological assets, some of which are World Heritage listed, and accommodate habitats and species found nowhere else on Earth. The biological and landscape...

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Box HER9 Port Arthur Penitentiary—extreme weather impact on historic sites

2016
Heritage
Pressures
Case Study

Climate change is already posing risks for Australia’s World Heritage properties, including historic sites. The Port Arthur Historic Site is one of the 11 historic places that together form the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property, which was inscribed on the...

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Regional and landscape-scale pressures: Bushfire

2016
Land
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Land Pressures Bushfires (wildfires) are uncontrolled fire in the landscape. These particularly affect natural or seminatural vegetation, and have significant positive and negative effects on landscape and...

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Executive Summary - Marine environment

2016
Marine environment
Executive Summary

Marine environment 2016Australia’s marine environment is the world’s third largest marine jurisdiction, at 13.86 million square kilometres. It is home to a diverse array of marine species, many of which occur nowhere else in the world. Our oceans also...

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Box HER31 Innovative management of local heritage—the City of Ballarat

2016
Heritage
Effectiveness of management
Case Study
... sees urban heritage as a social, cultural and economic asset for the development of cities, by ( HULBallarat 2016 ): ...
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Box BLT8 Water quality in Western Australian remote communities

2016
Built environment
State and trends
Case Study
... high nitrates. Long-term solutions would likely include asset replacements or upgrades, or finding new water sources, ...
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Importance of biodiversity

2016
Biodiversity
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Introduction Tasmania Great Barrier Reef Biodiversity is important to humans for many reasons. Biodiversity is also considered by many to have...

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Economic growth

2016
Heritage
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Heritage Pressures Murray Darling Greater Melbourne Greater Sydney Heritage places are susceptible to loss of values through inappropriate...

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Policies, tools and approaches that are potentially changing the outlook

2016
Outlook
Report Content

2016 Outlook The outlook described above has both positive and negative components, although the negative tends to dominate. This balance can potentially shift, by using a variety of policies, tools, approaches and resources that are being developed...

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Introduction

2016
Introduction
At a glance

A healthy environment sustains our economy and wellbeing The environment provides significant intrinsic values to society, and many consider that the natural world has innate worth regardless of whether or not it has values that benefit humans. At a more practical level, the...

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Climate change is a key pressure on the Australian environment

2016
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Pressures Climate change is an increasingly important and pervasive pressure on all aspects of the Australian environment. Although our climate and its high natural variability from year to year have always been a major influence on the state...

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Risks to inland water environments 2016

2016
Inland water
Risks
At a glance

At a glanceRisks to inland water environments include direct risks (such as direct water extraction, or changes in run-off and recharge) and indirect risks (such as expansion of invasive species because of increased tourism). Climate changes may produce both types of risks. Updated climate...

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Australia’s water use

2016
Inland water
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Inland water Introduction Murray Darling Rainfall and run-off amounts vary widely from year to year and place to place, and we have a water management infrastructure with an accessible...

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Outlook for the coastal environment 2016

2016
Coasts
Outlook
At a glance

At a glanceThe current pressures associated with human population, catchment land use, agriculture and resource extraction are growing and will be exacerbated by the increasing pressures of climate change. The most significant climate change pressures for the coast include sea level rise,...

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Coastal heritage

2016
Coasts
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Coasts State and trends Great Barrier Reef The section should be read in conjunction with the Heritage report. Much of the data in the Heritage report include the coastal zone, so it is...

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Regional and landscape-scale pressures: Land clearing

2016
Land
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Land Pressures Land clearing represents a fundamental pressure on the land environment, causing the loss and fragmentation of native vegetation. Depending on subsequent management, land clearing can also lead to a...

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Overview of challenges to effective management

2016
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Effectiveness of management Without detracting from positive trends in some areas, successive SoE reports have highlighted consistent problems and trends for the Australian environment. These include: the continuing loss of Australia’s...

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Groundwater resources

2016
Inland water
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Inland water State and trends South East Coast South West Coast South Australian Gulf North Western Plateau...

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Increased extreme weather events

2016
Built environment
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Built environment Pressures Murray Darling North East Coast Timor Sea Greater Brisbane Greater Darwin...

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Landscape and soil

2016
Land
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Land Resilience Great Barrier Reef Under natural conditions, the land (i.e. landforms, soils, drainage networks of streams and rivers, vegetation and other biota) is in some sort of...

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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.

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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.

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