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

Showing 60 of 166 results

Overview of resilience of the atmosphere

2016
Atmosphere
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Atmosphere Resilience Climate The Atmosphere report considers both the resilience of the climate system itself and the resilience of our society to climate change. Our planet is somewhat resilient to increasing...

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Effectiveness of Antarctic management 2016

2016
Antarctic environment
Effectiveness of management
At a glance

At a glanceAntarctica is governed through the international agreements of the Antarctic Treaty System, including the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, and the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. These agreements establish...

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Approach - Atmosphere 2016

2016
Atmosphere
Report Content

2016 Atmosphere In this report, we assess the state of Australia’s atmosphere through an assessment of Australia’s climate and the effects of climate change, and ambient air quality. The approach adopted in this report follows that outlined in the...

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Resilience of Australia’s air quality 2016

2016
Ambient air quality
Resilience
At a glance

At a glanceThe frequency, duration and severity of episodes of poor air quality in urban centres are influenced by short-term meteorological conditions, in combination with local topography and/or atypical emissions. Air quality is usually restored to acceptable levels once the immediate...

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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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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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Vegetation

2016
Land
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Land Introduction Like the soil that supports it, vegetation is fundamental to ecosystem processes and human survival. Vegetation is vital for: producing oxygen for animal and human life maintaining air quality...

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Box BIO21 Rethinking revegetation resilience

2016
Biodiversity
Resilience
Case Study

SA Water undertakes revegetation work in historically cleared parts of its large (around 85,000 hectares) land holdings across South Australia. Native species are used in revegetation to concurrently achieve multiple outcomes of catchment management (water quality), biodiversity...

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Box ANT7 Development of a new wastewater treatment facility at Australia’s Davis Station

2016
Antarctic environment
State and trends
Case Study

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) has developed a new wastewater treatment facility for Davis research station, to mitigate environmental impacts and risks to the coastal marine environment. In 2012, a comprehensive study looked at wastewater disposal into the coastal...

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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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State and trends of the Antarctic environment 2016

2016
Antarctic environment
State and trends
At a glance

At a glanceThe physical and chemical components of the Antarctic environment are changing. The Antarctic surface and lower atmosphere are warming, with the strongest temperature increases in the Antarctic Peninsula region and West Antarctica. Part of the warming is because of global...

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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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Increased sea levels

2016
Built environment
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Built environment Pressures South West Coast South Australian Gulf North East Coast Greater Brisbane Greater...

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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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Role and coordination of different levels of government

2016
Climate
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Climate Effectiveness of management Greater Adelaide Australian Capital Territory Greater Melbourne Greater Sydney...

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Likely trends in key factors

2016
Heritage
Outlook
Report Content

2016 Heritage Outlook Great Barrier Reef The vision of the Australian Heritage Strategy is that: Our natural, historic and Indigenous heritage places are valued by Australians, protected for...

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Livability: Natural environment

2016
Built environment
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Built environment State and trends Murray Darling North East Coast Tasmania Greater Brisbane Greater Darwin...

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Effectiveness of land management

2016, 2011
Land
Effectiveness of management
Assessment summary

Land Effectiveness of management Human capitalManagement contextResources and capacity for managementHuman capital...

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Overview of state and trends of the built environment

2016
Built environment
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Built environment State and trends What has changed since 2011? With water restrictions easing across many regions since 2011, Australian households have been increasing their water consumption. In 2014–15,...

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Outlook under an 'improved future' scenario

2016
Outlook
Report Content

2016 Outlook An ‘improved future’ scenario for Australia’s environment would see innovation in policy, technical and associated management approaches to: halt and reverse the decline in the environment, and the ecological processes that maintain...

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Risks

2016
Risks
At a glance

Even after management actions and resilience are taken into consideration, some pressures can continue to pose a risk to the environment. Identifying and assessing the risk to the environment examines both the likelihood that the impact will take place and the severity of anticipated...

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Marine mining and industry

2016
Marine environment
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Pressures A wide variety of mineral resources exist within Australia’s maritime jurisdiction (Table MAR3). Mining of these resources, however, remains an emerging industry (AIMS 2014). As a...

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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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Executive Summary - Coasts

2016
Coasts
Executive Summary

Coasts 2016Australia’s coast is vast and diverse. It is the sixth largest of any nation, and contains a variety of habitat types, including sandy beaches and dunes, rocky shores, tidal flats, and estuaries and bays. Our coast is intimately linked to our...

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Box HER42 Western Australian Goldfields Water Supply Scheme—conserving and interpreting a National Heritage place

2016
Heritage
Effectiveness of management
Case Study

The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme—which runs for 560 kilometres in Western Australia, extending from Mundaring Weir in the west to Mount Charlotte Reservoir at Kalgoorlie in the east—was branded as ‘audacious’ when the project was proposed more than 120 years ago. In the...

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Box BLT4 Adelaide suburban land-use change

2016
Built environment
State and trends
Case Study

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Land account: South Australia, experimental estimates, 2006–11 (ABS 2015d), the area of residential land in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges area showed the largest land-use increase between 2006 and 2011 (4300 hectares),...

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Coastal waterways

2016
Coasts
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Coasts State and trends South East Coast South West Coast Murray Darling Tasmania Greater Brisbane...

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Effectiveness of management for specific pressures and drivers

2016
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Effectiveness of management Earlier, we noted that the complex and dynamic relationships between drivers, pressures, ecosystems and humans call for policies and management actions that address both drivers and pressures. In many cases, the most...

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Effectiveness of marine management 2016

2016
Marine environment
Effectiveness of management
At a glance

At a glanceThe diversity of anthropogenic pressures on marine habitats and communities by different industries and sectors is a challenge for managers. Some pressures are increasing, others have declined following implementation of management frameworks, and new pressures and new sectors are...

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Cumulative impacts and management of multiple uses

2016
Marine environment
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Effectiveness of management Great Barrier Reef Ecosystem-based management aims to balance human activities with environmental stewardship to maintain ecosystem...

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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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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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