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

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Australia has a long-term trend of declining rainfall

2016
Atmosphere
Key Finding

2016  Australian rainfall has been largely variable in the past 100 years, particularly the past 40 years. The millennium drought (2000–10) was followed by the wettest 2-year period on record (2010 and 2011). After that, drought re-emerged across large areas of southern and eastern...

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Land: 2011–16 in context

2016
Land
Introduction
Report Content
... has seen an ongoing relaxation of the effects of the millennium drought and recovery in many areas (the millennium drought in southern Australian lasted from 2000 to ...
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Introduction 2016

2016
Climate
Introduction
At a glance

Australia has always been a land of extremes. In a single year, we can experience heatwaves, floods, fires, cyclones and drought. Australia’s highly variable climate is influenced year to year by large-scale drivers in the atmosphere and ocean, such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO...

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State and trends of Australia’s climate 2016

2016
Climate
State and trends
At a glance

At a glanceAustralian temperatures have increased during the past 100 years, especially since the 1950s. This increase has also been observed at the global level, and is associated with increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The year 2015 was the warmest on record...

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Effectiveness of inland water management 2016

2016
Inland water
Effectiveness of management
At a glance

At a glanceThe National Water Initiative has driven water policy, planning and management reforms in Australia for the past decade, which have delivered significant benefits for all Australians. It is critical that there should be no backsliding from reform principles. During a similar or...

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Climate: 2011–16 in context

2016
Climate
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Climate Introduction As reported in SoE 2011, climate change continues to be a global problem. A major development since the 2011 report has been international cooperation to address the global issue, with 195 ...

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Introduction 2016

2016
Inland water
Introduction
At a glance

The capricious nature of our nation’s water resources was evident during 2011–16, with: record rainfall and record dryness at local, regional and state scales extended and extensive flooding national water storage levels varying from above 80 per cent to below 50 per cent groundwater...

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Executive Summary - Inland water

2016
Inland water
Executive Summary

Inland water 2016Australia’s inland waters, both above and below the ground, are of considerable ecological significance. Their significance arises from both their intrinsic ecological values and the contribution they make in providing water to our communities...

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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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Pressures affecting inland water environments 2016

2016
Inland water
Pressures
At a glance

At a glanceOverall, the key pressures affecting inland water environments have changed little since 2011, with climatic and pest-based pressures increasing, land-use and management pressures remaining largely stable, and some stabilisation occurring in the pressure of water resources...

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Recent national assessments of management performance

2016
Inland water
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Inland water Effectiveness of management The National Water Initiative has set the water policy reform agenda for the past decade, following on from the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Water Reform...

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Rainfall

2016
Climate
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Climate State and trends Greater Melbourne Broadly, Australia can be divided into 2 seasonal rainfall regimes: the north and the south. The northern half of the continent typically...

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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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Soil: Formation and erosion

2016
Land
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Land State and trends Murray Darling East Coast Greater Sydney Under steady state, erosion rates are equal to soil formation rates. The...

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Climate change–induced pressures

2016
Land
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Land Pressures South East Coast Murray Darling North East Coast Tasmania Lake Eyre Our...

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State and trends of inland water environments 2016

2016
Inland water
State and trends
At a glance

At a glanceOnline availability of flow data and water resources information has increased substantially since 2011, including: various state-based data portals a national repository with flow and other data for more than 3400 sites a national set of 222 long-term, high-quality reference...

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Built environment: 2011–16 in context

2016
Built environment
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Built environment Introduction Greater Melbourne Greater Perth Greater Sydney Australia’s growing population—particularly in our major...

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Introduction

2016
Introduction
At a glance

Drivers are the underlying natural and human-caused forces that generate the pressures on the environment. Natural drivers of environmental change include changes in Earth’s orbit, and variation in the amount of solar energy and volcanic eruptions. The human-caused drivers of change to the...

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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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Inland water: 2011–16 in context

2016
Inland water
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Inland water Introduction Murray Darling Tasmania The past 5 years opened with widespread heavy rainfall and extensive flooding in Queensland, New South Wales and...

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Changing land use and management

2016
Inland water
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Inland water Pressures Tasmania Great Barrier Reef Land use and land management can produce pressures on aquatic environments that include changes to flow, water...

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Management focus areas

2016
Built environment
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Built environment Effectiveness of management Greater Brisbane Greater Darwin Greater Adelaide Australian Capital Territory...

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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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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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Overview of effectiveness of management of land

2016
Land
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Land Effectiveness of management In 2014, the Caring for our Country and Landcare programs were merged to form the National Landcare Programme, with the aim of streamlining governance processes and coordinating ...

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Evidence of past resilience

2016
Biodiversity
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Resilience Much of Australia’s biodiversity is renowned for its ability to deal with massive ecosystem shocks (e.g. fire, extended periods of dry or wet, extreme weather events such as cyclones)....

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Risks to Australia’s climate 2016

2016
Climate
Risks
At a glance

At a glanceAn understanding of the risks associated with Australia’s climate will lead to improved action plans to adapt to the changes predicted to occur. Our climate is a dynamic system; therefore, the risks need to be re-evaluated frequently. Recent climate change projections for...

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Economic activity as a driver of environmental change

2016 Report Content

2016 The production of goods and services requires energy and materials—metals, minerals, water, food and fibre—all of which come from the environment. The impacts of resource extraction, production, transport, use and waste generation are central to how economic activity affects...

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Box ATM8    Future air quality in Victoria project

2016
Ambient air quality
Pressures
Case Study

Work from CSIRO and the Victorian Environment Protection Authority forecasted what air quality in Victoria might be like in the year 2030 (EPA Vic 2013). The project investigated changes between the base year–2006–and 2030, including predicting how the Victorian emissions might...

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Water resource development

2016
Inland water
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Inland water Pressures Murray Darling Tasmania Greater Brisbane Greater Darwin Greater Hobart...

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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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