Transcript SoE 2011 - Land chapter overview

SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview
This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the
Environment 2011 (SoE 2011) presentations given by SoE
Committee members and departmental staff following the
release of the SoE 2011.
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 - Land chapter overview
Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft
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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)
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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
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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)
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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
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www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Assessment summaries in the report
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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
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Key Findings (in theme chapters)
 ‘key findings’
give an
overview of
more specific
conclusions
for each
theme
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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
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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
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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
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www.environment.gov.au/soe
Land chapter statistics
 100 pages of data and
information
 40 figures (graphs, tables,
maps)
 9 assessment tables
 2 case studies
 133 references
Photo by Christian Fletcher
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Key findings
 Threats from widespread landscape-scale pressures

changing land use

land clearing
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Key findings
 Soil acidification, erosion and loss of soil carbon may
increasingly affect Australia’s agriculture
 Climate change is expected to bring about profound changes
in the Australian land environment, particularly native
vegetation and production systems
 Effectiveness of land management varies with land use and
the nature of the pressures on the environment
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Key findings
 Governance and institutional arrangements remain
inadequate for soundly based adaptive management
 There is a serious capacity gap in the professional and
technical human resources necessary for effective land
management
 Trends in land environmental values are negative and
likely to be exacerbated by climate change
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Land state and trends
 Land management practices
have improved
 Loss of soil carbon, and
soil acidification and
erosion
 Loss of native vegetation
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State and trends
 Progress evident in many aspects of managing Australia’s
land environment
 BUT – trends remain adverse

The loss of soil carbon, and soil acidification and
erosion may have major impacts on production

< 50% of native vegetation remains in most longer settled
agricultural and coastal zone regions

Approximately 13% of native vegetation nationally has
been completely converted to other uses
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State and trends of soil – soil carbon
 Assessment tables
provide insight into
the state and trend
of Australia’s land
environment
www.environment.gov.au/soe
State and trends of soil – soil acidification
Lime sales, WA
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State and trends of vegetation
 Australia’s native vegetation can be
classified into 23 major vegetation
groups (MVGs)
 Since European settlement, 13% of
Australia’s native vegetation has
been cleared and converted to other
land uses, predominantly agriculture
 In most longer settled agricultural
and coastal zone regions < 50% of
native vegetation remains
Photo by Nick Rains
www.environment.gov.au/soe
State and trends of vegetation
 Native vegetation extent – outside
intensive land-use zones
 Native vegetation extent – within
intensive land-use zones
 Native vegetation condition –
outside intensive land-use zones
 Native vegetation condition –
within intensive land-use zones
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Percentage of native vegetation remaining
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Pressures affecting the land environment
 Australia’s land environment is
threatened by widespread
pressures:

Land clearing

Livestock grazing

Invasive species

Inappropriate fire patterns

Urban & peri-urban expansion
Photo by: Nikolai and Olga Vakroushev
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Pressures: declining soil health
 Threats to our soil,
including acidification,
erosion and the loss of soil
carbon, will increasingly
affect Australia’s
agriculture unless carefully
managed
Photo by Jeff Drewitz
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Pressures: soil erosion by water and wind
 Dust storms remain
an issue but are less
volatile than in the
1940s
Photo by: John Pryke
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Management effectiveness
 Varies with land use and the nature of other pressures
 3 diverse management types:

government agencies

Family and corporate agricultural and pastoral businesses

Indigenous Australians
 Complex legislative issues for public lands
 Substantial yet still inadequate and investment
 Gap in professional and technical capacity
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Case study: Caring for Country – Indigenous land
and sea management
 Box 5.1 of the report
 Full case study online:
www.environment.gov.au/
soe - see ‘supplementary
material’
Photo by Yirralka Rangers & DSEWPaC
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Resilience of the land environment
 The resilience of Australia’s land, soil and vegetation can be
assessed in two stages:

Firstly, in terms of the interaction of land with land use and
the maintenance of environmental values under particular
land-use regimes; and

Secondly, in terms of how well land regains these values
after major disturbances such as clearing, flood or fire
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Case study: connectivity conservation in Australian
landscapes
 Box 5.2 of the report
 Full case study online:
www.environment.gov.au/
soe - see ‘supplementary
material’
Photo by: Nick Rains
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Current and emerging risks to the land environment
 Profound changes in vegetation communities (major, almost
certain)
 The impact of invasive species, including new introductions
and distributions (major, almost certain)
 Decrease of soil carbon stores, widespread acidification of
agricultural lands (major, likely)
 Changes to agricultural and forestry production systems
associated with climate change (major, likely)
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Outlook for the land environment
 Subject to increasing
competition for land use –
human settlements,
conservation, food, fibre &
energy production
 Future land environments
are likely to be shaped by a
different climate from that
experienced in Australia’s
human history
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Other SoE 2011 content related to land

Biodiversity

Built Environment

Coasts

Explore and discover linkages that are important to you
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Explore

Land chapter of Australia State
of the Environment 2011

In Brief

Online
www.environment.gov.au/soe

Supplementary products
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Strengths and limits of SoE
 Describes trends over time
where possible, and lessons
 Highlights current and future
issues of management
concern
 Was designed to assist
decision-makers
 Provides critical information,
but can only be impactful if
decision-makers consider it
and use it
For more information
email: [email protected]
To order copies
email: [email protected]
Or read it online:
www.environment.gov.au/soe
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