In this report, we describe pressures facing biodiversity in general.

The Mawson’s Huts Historic Site is Australia’s oldest and arguably most significant historic heritage site in Antarctica. At the time of their construction, more than 100 years ago, the huts were built to last only a few years.

There is a recognised gap between Indigenous Australians and the wider Australian community across many areas of economic and social measures and activity, including cultural heritage (COAG 2008).

The interactions between pressures can result in cumulative impacts, amplifying the threat faced by the Australian environment.

The pressures on the Antarctic terrestrial environment operating on a global scale include anthropogenic climate change, such as atmospheric warming and changes to water regimes.

Broadly, Australia can be divided into 2 seasonal rainfall regimes: the north and the south. The northern half of the continent typically experiences a monsoonal, summer wet season, with rainfall falling from October through April, and the rest of the year being dry.

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 levels of biodiversity.

Recovery from change can be observed in systems that have been heavily degraded, and then either actively restored or allowed to recover by natural processes. Challenges in restoration ecology are the setting of appropriate goals, and the ability to detect when goals are reached.

Invasive species represent one of the most potent, persistent and widespread threats to the Australian environment.

The concept of resilience is not straightforward, with definitions varying across social and scientific disciplines. Complexities in the level of detail also vary, depending on the system of focus.

The resilience of a society is dependent on the sensitivity of the society to change and its capacity to adapt to change.

Investment in management of the land environment includes financial and in-kind commitments by all levels of government, private landowners and businesses, philanthropic and other nongovernment organisations, Indigenous Australians and communities.

Authorities charged with managing the coast are increasingly adopting risk-based methods to inform decision-making.

Soils form at the interface between land, the hydrosphere and the atmosphere.