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Australia State of the Environment Report

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  • Atmosphere
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  • Biodiversity
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  • Marine environment
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Topics

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

Topics

A topic is a specific issue or subject discussed in the report. Each theme discusses these topics in detail.

From this page you can use the filters below to refine a list of topics of interest to you, or, list all topics available in the SoE report.

Overview

Overview of resilience of land

Resilient land should be able to recover from changes, and continue to support native vegetation and natural processes, as well as allow us to use natural resources within reasonable limits.
2016
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Relates to
Land
Resilience
Overview

Overview of resilience of the antarctic environment

Natural disturbances are part of life in Antarctic ecosystems, and the native species can generally survive shock events because they have evolved strategies that allow their populations to rebuild after mass mortalities.
2016
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Relates to
Antarctic environment
Resilience
Antarctica
Overview

Overview of resilience of the atmosphere

The Atmosphere report considers both the resilience of the climate system itself and the resilience of our society to climate change.
2016
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Relates to
Atmosphere
Resilience
Overview

Overview of resilience of the built environment

Because climate-related and weather-related risks have always been present, governments and private parties have fairly well established institutional, governance and policy frameworks to build resilience in our built environment.
2016
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Relates to
Built environment
Resilience
Overview

Overview of resilience of the marine environment

Current understanding of the resilience of Australia’s marine environment is limited because it is difficult to monitor the environment across timescales relevant for assessing resilience.
2016
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Relates to
Marine environment
Resilience
Great Barrier ReefMarine NorthMarine North West
Overview

Overview of state and trends of biodiversity

Understanding of the state of biodiversity in Australia is improving for a small number of taxa, although our knowledge is inadequate because limited information is available for the vast majority of taxa, and few long-term monitoring programs are in place.
2016
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Relates to
Biodiversity
State and trends
Timor SeaCocos ChristmasMarine North
Overview

Overview of state and trends of coasts

The condition of Australia’s coastal environment is mixed, being largely good in the north-west and far north-east of the country, and largely poor in the east, south-east and south-west.
2016
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Relates to
Coasts
State and trends
South East CoastSouth West CoastNorth East CoastEast Coast
Overview

Overview of state and trends of heritage

Australia’s extraordinary and diverse natural and cultural heritage generally remains in good condition, despite some deterioration and emerging challenges.
2016
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Relates to
Heritage
State and trends
North East CoastTasmaniaTimor SeaGreat Barrier ReefMarine North West
Overview

Overview of state and trends of inland water

National water storage levels varied, from above 80 per cent in 2011 to below 50 per cent in 2015.
2016
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Relates to
Inland water
State and trends
South CoastSouth East CoastSouth West CoastMurray Darling
Overview

Overview of state and trends of the Antarctic environment

The physical and chemical components of the Antarctic environment are changing in response to global pressures of human activity and climate change. These changes are occurring against a backdrop of climatic variability.
2016
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Relates to
Antarctic environment
State and trends
Antarctica
Overview

Overview of state and trends of the atmosphere

The changes to Australia’s climate arising from global climate change include increased average surface air temperature, increased incidence of heatwaves, decreased average rainfall in parts of the country, an increase in drought frequency and severity, sea level rise, more extreme daily rainfall
2016
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Atmosphere
State and trends
Overview

Overview of state and trends of the built environment

Australia’s urban amenity is generally good. Although our urban populations are still consuming significant resources, they are using energy more efficiently than in 2011.
2016
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Built environment
State and trends
Overview

Overview of state and trends of the land

The impacts of human land use are spread unevenly across the country. Vegetation clearing is concentrated in the long-settled agricultural and coastal zones, where more than 50 per cent of native vegetation has typically been cleared.
2016
  • Read more about Overview of state and trends of the land
Relates to
Land
State and trends
Timor SeaGreat Barrier Reef
Overview

Overview of state and trends of the marine environment

Australia’s marine environment encompasses the seabed; the water column; physical, biogeochemical and ecological processes that play an important role in shaping the marine environment; and habitats, communities and species groups, which all interact in highly complex ways.
2016
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Relates to
Marine environment
State and trends
Marine Temperate EastGreat Barrier ReefMarine North WestMarine South East
Ambient air quality

Ozone

Ozone is a secondary pollutant formed through the interaction of VOCs (see ‘Volatile organic compounds’) and nitrogen oxides (NOx; see ‘Nitrogen dioxide’). The AQI for ozone in all capital cities was deemed ‘good’ from 1999 to 2008, and remained steady during this time.
2016
  • Read more about Ozone
  • See Assessment Summaries
Relates to
Ambient air quality
State and trends
Greater BrisbaneAustralian Capital TerritoryGreater MelbourneGreater PerthGreater Sydney
Biodiversity

Pest species and pathogens

Pest plants, pest animals and pathogens have been identified by every state and territory as a key threat to biodiversity generally, and to threatened species specifically.
2016
  • Read more about Pest species and pathogens
  • See Assessment Summaries
Relates to
Biodiversity
Pressures
Murray DarlingTasmaniaTimor SeaMarine Temperate EastCocos ChristmasMarine North West
Inland water

Pests and invasive species

SoE 2011 provided information on the pressure of invasive species, including cane toads (Rhinella marina, formerly Bufo marinus), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), eastern gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki),
2016
  • Read more about Pests and invasive species
  • See Assessment Summaries
Relates to
Inland water
Pressures
Murray DarlingTasmaniaTimor SeaLake Eyre
Heritage

Planning

The adequacy of planning for heritage management can be assessed by considering the policies and plans in place that result in management actions to address major pressures and risks to heritage values.
2016
  • Read more about Planning
  • See Assessment Summaries
Relates to
Heritage
Effectiveness of management
Antarctica
Climate

Planning and strategy

An important role of government is to develop effective policies, implemented through supporting strategies and plans.
2016
  • Read more about Planning and strategy
  • See Assessment Summaries
Relates to
Climate
Effectiveness of management
South Coast
Built environment

Planning for the future

Australia is one of the world’s most urbanised nations. Most of Australia’s population lives in our cities, and the bulk of our national economic output is generated there.
2016
  • Read more about Planning for the future
  • See Assessment Summaries
Relates to
Built environment
Effectiveness of management
North East CoastTasmaniaGreater MelbourneGreater Sydney
Overview

Policies, tools and approaches that are potentially changing the outlook

The outlook described above has both positive and negative components, although the negative tends to dominate. 
2016
  • Read more about Policies, tools and approaches that are potentially changing the outlook
Relates to
Outlook
Biodiversity

Pollution

Pollution issues affecting biodiversity in Australia can generally be categorised as relatively local in nature (e.g. specific waste streams from poorly managed activities or legacy sources in groundwater, such as plumes under industrial sites) or relating to broad landscape
2016
  • Read more about Pollution
  • See Assessment Summaries
Relates to
Biodiversity
Pressures
North East CoastGreat Barrier ReefMarine North
Ambient air quality

Pollution sources

Pollution sources are often characterised as anthropogenic (i.e. human-made), biogenic (i.e. natural and living) or geogenic (i.e. natural and nonliving).
2016
  • Read more about Pollution sources
Relates to
Ambient air quality
Pressures
Greater MelbourneGreater Sydney
Ambient air quality

Pollution types

Pollutants occur as gases (e.g. carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and VOCs such as benzene and formaldehyde) and PM. In air pollution, PM refers to solid and liquid particles suspended in air, and the PM and air mixture is referred to as aerosol.
2016
  • Read more about Pollution types
Relates to
Ambient air quality
Pressures
Drivers

Population as a driver of environmental change

Each person added to our population creates additional demand on natural resources to provide materials for shelter, energy and sustenance. However, it cannot be assumed that an increase in population leads to greater stress on the environment.
2016
  • Read more about Population as a driver of environmental change
Relates to
Greater BrisbaneGreater DarwinGreater HobartGreater AdelaideGreater MelbourneGreater PerthGreater Sydney
Heritage

Population growth

Australia’s population is projected to grow to nearly 40 million by 2055 (ABS 2016). This increase will be concentrated in our capital cities. Population growth will affect all aspects of the environment, including heritage.
2016
  • Read more about Population growth
  • See Assessment Summaries
Relates to
Heritage
Pressures
Greater Sydney
Coasts

Population growth and urban development: Coastal development and land use

Coastal population growth exerts strong pressure on coastal land by increasing the need for both agriculture and housing, and land-use demands often come at the expense of natural habitats and native
2016
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Relates to
Coasts
Pressures
Greater MelbourneGreater Perth
Coasts

Population growth and urban development: Population growth

The coast has many qualities that make it attractive for living, including economic, social, recreational and cultural benefits. Human populations have been growing in Australian coastal areas since European colonisation, and this growth has not slowed since 2011.
2016
  • Read more about Population growth and urban development: Population growth
  • See Assessment Summaries
Relates to
Coasts
Pressures
Greater HobartGreater AdelaideGreater MelbourneGreater PerthGreater Sydney
Coasts

Population growth and urban development: Tourism and recreation

The tourism industry is important for the Australian economy, comprising approximately 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014–15 (Productivity Commission 2015).
2016
  • Read more about Population growth and urban development: Tourism and recreation
Relates to
Coasts
Pressures
Great Barrier ReefMarine North West
Heritage

Preparedness for future pressures

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

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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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