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

Showing 30 of 238 results

Volatile organic compounds

2016
Ambient air quality
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Ambient air quality State and trends VOCs are a group of carbon-based chemicals that easily evaporate at room temperature. Many common household materials and products, such as paints and cleaning products, give...

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Figure ATM37 Sources of volatile organic compounds, 2013–14

2016
Ambient air quality
Graph

Sources of volatile organic compounds (excluding biogenics), 2013–14 Sources of volatile organic compounds (excluding biogenics), 2013–14 Proportion of total volatile organic compounds (%) Motor vehicles30 Burning (fuel reduction/regeneration, agriculture,...

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Figure ATM30 Proportion of annual anthropogenic emissions by source type in the Sydney region

2016
Ambient air quality
Graph

Proportion of annual anthropogenic emissions in the Sydney region, by source Proportion of annual anthropogenic emissions in the Sydney region, by source Domestic-commercialCommercialIndustrialOff-road mobileOn-road mobile Particulate matter (less than 2.5...

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Introduction 2016

2016
Ambient air quality
Introduction
At a glance

Good air quality is essential for human health and the environment. Air quality is an important contributor to quality of life, and plays a role in the livability of our towns, cities and environment. Ambient air quality is determined by the types and amounts of pollutants emitted into the...

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Box ATM9 Research into emissions from coal-seam gas extraction activities

2016
Ambient air quality
Pressures
Case Study
... oxides, ozone, carbon monoxide, total and speciated volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter. Real-time data from the ...
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Risks to Australia’s air quality 2016

2016
Ambient air quality
Risks
At a glance

At a glanceDuring the past 50 years or so since the first clean air Acts were introduced in Australian jurisdictions, state and territory environment protection agencies (often working together with local government) have successfully employed regulatory and nonregulatory measures to greatly...

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Figure ATM41 Historical and projected trends in road transport emissions, 1970–2030

2016
Ambient air quality
Graph

Historical and projected trends in road transport emissions, 1970–2030 Historical and projected trends in road transport emissions, 1970–2030 Nitrogen oxideParticulate matter (PM10) from exhaustTotal particulate matter (PM10)Carbon monoxide Volatile organic...

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Pollution sources

2016
Ambient air quality
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Ambient air quality Pressures Greater Melbourne Greater Sydney Pollution sources are often characterised as anthropogenic (i.e. human-made), biogenic (i.e. natural...

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Air toxics

2016
Ambient air quality
State and trends
Report Content
... ). They include a diverse range of pollutants, including volatile and semivolatile organic compounds, and heavy metals. Air toxics are formed as ...
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Industry

2016
Ambient air quality
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Ambient air quality Pressures Murray Darling Traditional major industry is in decline in Australia, and this has produced a corresponding decrease in many emissions to air. For example, in...

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Ozone

2016
Ambient air quality
State and trends
Report Content
... pollutant formed through the interaction of VOCs (see ‘Volatile organic compounds’) and nitrogen oxides (NO x ; see ‘Nitrogen ...
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Box ATM12 Persistent organic pollutants in Australian air

2016
Ambient air quality
State and trends
Case Study
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are semivolatile chemicals that ... is the goal of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a global treaty to: Protect human health ... or reduction in unintentional production of 27 compounds that have been used as pesticides, fire retardants ...
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Toxins, pesticides and herbicides

2016
Marine environment
Pressures
Report Content
... regarded as pollutants encompasses a large array of compounds, and is generally divided into chemical compounds and metals. Estimates of the number of chemicals ... limited. Most research has included only a few classes of compounds, notably the halogenated hydrocarbons, a limited ...
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Management framework

2016
Ambient air quality
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Ambient air quality Effectiveness of management Greater Sydney Each level of government—Australian, state and territory, and local—plays a role in managing the impacts of air pollution by...

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Pressures affecting ambient air quality

2016, 2011
Ambient air quality
Pressures
Assessment summary

Ambient air quality Pressures Prescribed burning and bushfiresIncreasing populationNonregulated diesel engines, including shipping and nonroad transportCommercial and other domestic sourcesDomestic wood heatersIndustryMotor...

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Pollution types

2016
Ambient air quality
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Ambient air quality Pressures Pollutants occur as gases (e.g. carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, VOCs such as benzene and formaldehyde) and PM. In air pollution, PM refers to solid and...

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Figure LAN17 Rating and condition for soil organic carbon

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 carbon Figure LAN17 Rating and condition for soil organic carbon Soil: Understanding

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Australian Antarctic Program’s station environment: Contaminated sites and pollution

2016
Antarctic environment
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Antarctic environment State and trends Antarctica Contaminated sites and pollution Contaminated waste disposal is a product of past practices of Antarctic expeditions, and is referred to...

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State and trends of soil carbon

2016, 2011
Land
State and trends
Assessment summary

Land State and trends Soil: Carbon dynamics Year...

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Resilience

2016
Resilience
At a glance

Resilience is the ability of the environment to withstand or recover from a shock or disturbance. Although the concept of resilience was developed and is mainly used in relation to ecosystems, it is a valuable concept across the environment and in environmental management. Effective...

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Decoupling population change and economic activity from environmental harm

2016
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Introduction If managed well, drivers such as population change and economic activity can benefit sustainable development, particularly through technological and institutional innovation, and changes in human behaviour. Successive SoE reports...

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Figure ATM3 Radiative forcing in 2011 relative to 1750, and aggregated uncertainties for the main drivers of climate change

2016
Climate
Pressures
Graph

Radiative forcing for the main drivers of climate change, and total radiative forcing in 2011 relative to 1750 Radiative forcing for the main drivers of climate change, and total radiative forcing in 2011 relative to 1750 Radiative forcingaerosols positive upper...

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Increasing population

2016
Ambient air quality
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Ambient air quality Pressures Greater Melbourne Greater Sydney Globally, just over 50 per cent of the world’s population lives in cities; in Australia, it is 90 per...

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Understanding and research

2016
Climate
Effectiveness of management
Report Content

2016 Climate Effectiveness of management Tasmania Greater Melbourne In the 5 years since SoE 2011, international climate science has advanced significantly. The IPCC,...

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Box ATM5 Cape Grim: monitoring the health of the global atmosphere for 40 years

2016
Climate
Effectiveness of management
Case Study
... gases including tropospheric ozone, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, radon (an indicator of recent terrestrial ...
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Box BIO10 Ongoing declines of Christmas Island reptiles

2016
Biodiversity
State and trends
Case Study
... trial release of blue-tailed skinks into predator-proof compounds on the island to help assess effectiveness of ...
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Box LAN13 HCAS—a new way to assess continuous variation in the condition of natural habitats for terrestrial biodiversity across whole regions using remote sensing data

2016
Land
Effectiveness of management
Case Study

In a recent article in Methods in Ecology and Evolution by Harwood et al. (2016), CSIRO reports on a novel approach to the difficulty in obtaining consistent and repeatable measurement of habitat condition for biodiversity across large areas, using remote sensing with limited...

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Soil: Carbon dynamics

2016
Land
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Land State and trends South Australian Gulf Tasmania Carbon dynamics In light of international agreements such as the Paris Agreement—which emerged from the 21st...

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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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Interactions among pressures

2016
Biodiversity
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Pressures Few of the pressures documented in this section occur in isolation. Rather, pressures interact in complex ways, often compounding the threat to biodiversity. For example, land clearing...

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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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