Transcript Document

SoE 2011 – Built Environment chapter - Overview
This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the
Environment 2011 (SoE 2011) presentations given by the
SoE Committee members and departmental staff following
the release of the SoE 2011.
This material was developed to be delivered as part of an
oral presentation. The full report should be referred to for
understanding the context of this information.
For more information please refer to:
http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/index.html
Or contact the SoE team via email:
[email protected]
www.environment.gov.au/soe
New cover page
Presentation – SoE 2011 Built environment chapter overview
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft
State of the Environment reporting
 A report on the Australian environment must be tabled in
Parliament every five years
 No current regulations regarding scope, content or process
 All reports so far written by independent committees
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Purpose of SoE 2011
Provide relevant and useful information on
environmental issues to the public and decisionmakers...
… to raise awareness and support more informed
environmental management decisions …
… leading to more sustainable use and effective
conservation of environmental assets.
www.environment.gov.au/soe
State of the Environment 2011 Committee
Chair
Tom Hatton (Director, CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country)
Members
Steven Cork (research ecologist and futurist)
Peter Harper (Deputy Australian Statistician)
Rob Joy (School of Global Studies, Social Science & Planning, RMIT)
Peter Kanowski (Fenner School of Environment & Society, ANU)
Richard Mackay (heritage specialist, Godden Mackay Logan)
Neil McKenzie (Chief, CSIRO Land and Water)
Trevor Ward (marine and fisheries ecologist)
Barbara Wienecke – ex officio (Australian Antarctic Division, DSEWPaC)
www.environment.gov.au/soe
What’s new in 2011?
 Improved relevance to decision makers
 More detailed information
 Discussion of the major drivers of change
 Wide range of credible resources used in the analyses
 Report-card style assessments of condition, pressures and
management effectiveness
 Discussions of current resilience and future risks
 Outlooks
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Quality and credibility
 Independence – written by an independent committee with
relevant expertise, tasked with advocating for ‘accurate, robust
and meaningful environmental reporting and identification of
policy issues, but not for any particular policy position’
 Authors sought best available evidence from credible sources
 Extensive consultation
 Workshops to determine consensus in expert opinion where
evidence low
 Transparency about quality of evidence and level of consensus
 Peer reviewed (47+ reviewers of chapters and supplementary materials)
www.environment.gov.au/soe
SoE 2011 Products
Full report – hard copy and online
 Summary with 17 headlines
 Nine theme chapters – each with key findings
 Report cards
In-Brief – hard copy and online
 50 page summary of full report
Additional online materials




Commissioned reports
Workshop reports
Additional tables and figures
Peer review information
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Assessment summaries in the report
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Drivers chapter – context for rest of SoE
 How are a
changing
climate,
population
growth and
economic
growth creating
pressures on
our
environment?
www.environment.gov.au/soe
SoE 2011 Headlines
 17 headlines
in summary
chapter give a
high level
overview of
the big issues
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Key Findings (in theme chapters)
 ‘key findings’
give an
overview of
more specific
conclusions
for each
theme
www.environment.gov.au/soe
What is the general state of the environment?
 Much of Australia is in good condition shape or improving

Wind erosion has decreased

Some major threats to vegetation cover are lessening

Water consumption has fallen considerably in recent years

Many urban air pollutants are on the decline

Use of public transport is on the rise
 Other parts are in poor condition or deteriorating

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing billions of tonnes of ice a year

Soil acidification and pests and weeds are affecting large areas of the
continent

Our natural and cultural heritage continues to be threatened
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Drivers of environmental change
 The principal drivers of pressures on Australia’s
environment—and its future condition—are climate variability
and change, population growth and economic growth
 It is likely that we are already seeing the effects of climate
change in Australia
 The Australian economy is projected to grow by 2.7% per year
until 2050
 Under the base scenario, Australia’s population of 22.2 million
people in 2010 is projected to grow to 35.9 million by 2050
 We have opportunities to decouple population and economic
growth from pressure on our environment
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Persistent pressures on our environment
 Past decisions and practices have left ongoing impacts on
our environment

Introduction of feral animals and weeds

Land clearing

Pollution

Unsustainable water resource management

Intense harvest of fish stocks

Lack of integrated and supported management
 Our changing climate, and growing population and
economy, are now confronting us with new challenges
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Key findings
 Australia’s built environment faces many pressures and is
only in a fair shape
 The Australian built environment consumes significant
natural resources, although this may be improving
 Recent government initiatives aim to improve the
uncoordinated management of the built environment
 The outlook for the built environment is mixed
www.environment.gov.au/soe
State and trends
 Significant parts of Australia’s built environment have aspects
that are considered poor

Natural resource consumption

Waste generation

Traffic congestion
Photo by Taras Vyshnya
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Household energy use
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Household distributed water use
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Municipal waste generation, 2008-09
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Municipal waste recovery rates, 2008-09
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Use of motorised transport modes in capital cities
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Cost of congestion for Australian metropolitan areas
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Percentage of adults using public transport as the
main form of transport for work or study
City
1996
2000
2003
Change between
2006
1996 and 2006a
Sydney
23.4
25.0
25.9
26.3
12.4
Melbourne
13.1
15.9
15.3
17.7
35.1
Brisbane
14.3
11.6
15.7
17.5
22.4
Adelaide
12.2
10.6
13.4
14.4
18.0
Perth
10.5
11.3
10.5
10.7
1.9
Hobart
12.8
5.2
6.9
10.3
- 19.5
Canberra
11.4
8.2
8.1
7.9
- 30.7
Total capital
citiesb
16.3
17.2
17.9
19.1
17.2
Other areasc
2.7
1.9
2.4
1.7
- 37.0
11.9
12.2
13.0
13.5
13.4
Australia
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Pressures affecting the built environment
 Population growth, economic growth and climate change
lead to a number of pressures on the built environment:

Increased urban footprint

Increased traffic

Increased pollution

Increased consumption

Increased extreme weather events

Increased sea levels
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Pressures affecting the built environment
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Residents’ rating of state/territory government
planning and managing of urban growth, 2011
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Management effectiveness
 Recent management initiatives:

COAG criteria for capital city
planning

National Urban Policy
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Photo by Ilya Genkin
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Management effectiveness
 Current management of the built environment is only partly
effective:

Good understanding of issues in development of plans

Disparate and often uncoordinated management
arrangements

Investment often inadequate to deal with issues

Leads to partially effective outputs and outcomes
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Resilience
 The resilience of the built environment to pressures is
variable
 The built environment is
generally not resilient to
pressures arising from
growth, particularly
population growth
 More resilient to
pressures associated
with weather-related
events
Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. Photo by Andrew Griffiths
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Risks
 Increased urban footprint (almost certain, major)
 Increased sea levels (almost certain, moderate)
 Weather-related incidents, e.g:
 mega-storms (likely, catastrophic)



mega-fires (likely, major)
heatwaves (almost certain, moderate)
floods (almost certain, moderate)
 Increased traffic congestion
(likely, major)
 Contamination of water supply
(possible, major)
Carram Downs bushfire, January 2009, Victoria. Photo by Winning Images
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Outlook for the built environment
 Outlook for the built environment is mixed
 Increasing pressures resulting from population and economic
growth and climate change pose significant challenges

Increasing urban land use

Traffic congestion

Waste generation
 More efficient consumption of water and energy
 Recent initiatives to improve urban planning should lead to
greater capability to deal with emerging challenges
www.environment.gov.au/soe
More information on the built environment
 DETAILED REPORT

Work your way through the built environment chapter of
Australia State of the Environment 2011

Have a look at the other chapters (drivers, coasts and
atmosphere chapters are of particular relevance)
 QUICK LOOK

Web site – www.environment.gov.au/soe

In Brief
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Intentions and impacts of SoE 2011...
 Based on available information and expert opinion drawn from
sources that are referenced in the report
 Was designed to raise awareness and assist decision-makers
 Highlights current issues that will require management
responses to influence projected trends
 Provides critical information, but can support change only if
decision-makers consider and use it
www.environment.gov.au/soe
For more information
email: [email protected]
To order copies
email: [email protected]
phone: 1800 803 772 or read it online:
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft