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Australia State of the Environment Report

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

Showing 30 of 608 results

Terrestrial ecosystems and communities

2016
Biodiversity
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity State and trends Murray Darling Tasmania Great Barrier Reef Australian Capital Territory The Interim...

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Ecosystem restoration

2016
Marine environment
Outlook
Report Content
... and their attributes, including species composition, ecosystem functions and resilience, are constantly changing. ... compromised and identify measures required for continuing ecosystem functioning. ...
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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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Figure BLT21 Accessibility to health services, capital cities, 2011

2016
Built environment
State and trends
Map

Download as pngDownload dataset Source: AURIN (2014) Figure BLT21 Accessibility to health services, capital cities, 2011 Livability: Urban amenity

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Figure BLT20 Accessibility to education services, capital cities, 2011

2016
Built environment
State and trends
Map

Download as pngDownload dataset Source: AURIN (2014) Figure BLT20 Accessibility to education services, capital cities, 2011 Livability: Urban amenity

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State and trends of groundwater resources

2016
Inland water
State and trends
Assessment summary

Inland water State and trends Groundwater resources South East CoastSouth West CoastSouth Australian GulfNorth Western PlateauMurray DarlingNorth East CoastSouth Western PlateauTasmaniaTimor Sea...

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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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Soil

2016
Land
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Land Introduction Soils form at the interface between land, the hydrosphere and the atmosphere. Their formation and placement are the result of complex interactions between differential weathering of primary...

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Drivers influencing the marine environment

2016
Marine environment
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Introduction Drivers influencing the Australian environment are covered in detail in the Drivers report, and readers are encouraged to refer to that report. We briefly summarise the drivers...

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Pressures affecting the land environment 2016

2016
Land
Pressures
At a glance

At a glanceAlthough a changing climate has shaped the Australian landscape and its vegetation, the current rate of climate change is likely to result in changes in the distribution and composition of vegetation communities. Some communities are likely to disappear, and others will be...

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Recent developments

2016
Coasts
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Coasts Effectiveness of management There have been some recent developments in the approach and tools for coastal management, including emerging analytical methods for decision-making, and conservation at multiple...

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Preparedness for future pressures

2016
Heritage
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Heritage Resilience Antarctica The drivers and pressures that threaten Australia’s heritage do so in different ways, leading to different opportunities to prepare for future pressures or...

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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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Freshwater species and ecosystems

2016
Biodiversity
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity State and trends Murray Darling Tasmania Great Barrier Reef Australian Capital Territory Lake Eyre...

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Ongoing clearing of native vegetation threatens a range of sectors

2016
Land
Key Finding

2016  Native vegetation supports critical ecosystem services, including stabilising soil, housing beneficial pollinators and other animals, and protecting Australia’s extraordinary biodiversity. Clearing, including clearing of regrowth, reduces landscape resilience, as well as directly...

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Factors affecting resilience capacity

2016
Biodiversity
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Resilience Murray Darling Tasmania Multiple factors acting at various levels of organisation, from species to landscapes, will interact to determine...

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Providing for a sustainable environment both now and in the future is a national issue requiring leadership and action across all levels of government, business and the community...

2016
Outlook
Key Finding

2016Providing for a sustainable environment both now and in the future is a national issue requiring leadership and action across all levels of government, business and the community. The first step is recognising the importance and value of ecosystem services to our economy and society.

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Australia’s marine environment currently contributes approximately $50 billion per year to Australia’s overall economy; this contribution is expected to double by 2025

2016
Marine environment
Key Finding

2016Our oceans directly and indirectly support commercial industries such as fisheries, shipping and resource extraction, and provide important revenue from recreational activities, including tourism. The economic value of resources provided by our marine environment is expected to...

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Effectiveness of climate change management

2016, 2011
Climate
Effectiveness of management
Assessment summary

Climate Effectiveness of management Planning and strategyManagement outputs and outcomesUnderstanding and researchRole and coordination of different levels of government...

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Effectiveness of coastal management

2016
Coasts
Effectiveness of management
Assessment summary

Coasts Effectiveness of management Coastal governance and management Year...

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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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Resilience of marine systems

2016
Marine environment
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Resilience Tasmania Great Barrier Reef The concept of resilience is not straightforward, with definitions varying across social and scientific...

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Data are insufficient to assess many aspects of the state of the environment of the coast

2016
Coasts
Key Finding

2016  Data deficiencies are particularly clear for biodiversity, and the population density of most species groups. Data deficiencies increase with decreasing size of organisms, regardless of their importance to ecosystem services (e.g. there are major data deficiencies for invertebrates...

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Box HER45 Macquarie Island pest-eradication project—recovery of significance at a natural heritage place

2016
Heritage
Resilience
Case Study
... of natural heritage resilience and the ability of an ecosystem to respond to management intervention in a way that ...
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Resilience of biodiversity 2016

2016
Biodiversity
Resilience
At a glance

At a glanceResilience is a key underpinning principle of Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2010–2030, as well as state and territory, and regional biodiversity strategies. The definition of resilience in biodiversity strategies and policies is still relatively ambiguous, and...

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Escalation of existing pressures

2016
Biodiversity
Risks
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Risks It is inevitable that the impact of climate change will continue to increase, given current trajectories (see the Drivers and Atmosphere reports). The interaction of climate change with other...

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Figure BIO2 Pressures affecting species listed as nationally threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

2016
Biodiversity
Pressures
Graph

Pressures affecting species listed as threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act Pressures affecting species listed as threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act Proportion of EPBC listed...

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In this report

2016
Land
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Land Introduction This report provides an account of the most significant and recent human impacts on our land. It highlights improvements in land management over some parts of Australia, as well as several...

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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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Global climate change and climate variability

2016
Biodiversity
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Pressures Tasmania All recent state and territory SoE reports note the adverse effects of global climate change on biodiversity. These increasingly include extreme weather, as...

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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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