Transcript SoE 2011 - Overview

SoE 2011 – Overview
This presentation was developed as one of several Australia
State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011) presentations
given by the SoE Committee members and departmental
staff following the release of 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 Overview
Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft
www.environment.gov.au/soe
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
 Transparent approach to assessments
 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
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
Headlines (in Summary chapter)
 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?
 Some past decisions have an ongoing legacy impact
 Much of Australia is in good condition 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
 Our changing climate and growing population and economy are now
confronting us with new challenges
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
 There are opportunities to decouple population and economic
growth from pressure on our environment
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Pressures on our environment
 Past decisions and practices have left ongoing impacts on
our environment

Introduction of feral animals and weeds

Land clearing

Unsustainable water resource management

Intense harvest of fish stocks

Lack of integrated 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
Some key issues – atmosphere
 It is likely that we are already seeing the effects of climate
change in Australia
 As the driest inhabitable continent, Australia is particularly
vulnerable to climate change
 Early action by Australia to reduce emissions and to deploy
targeted adaptation strategies will be less costly than
delayed action
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Rainfall deficiencies 1 April 1997 – 31 March 2010
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Australian rainfall 2010
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Vulnerability to climate change - Australia and NZ
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Risk watch for climate
Almost certain
 Continuing spatially variable rise in temperatures across the
continent (MAJOR)
Likely
 Reduced rainfall in southern areas, especially in winter, and in
southern and eastern areas in spring (MAJOR)
 Increased evaporation and reduced soil moisture (MAJOR)
 Increased frequency and severity of wildfires (MAJOR)
 Increased frequency of heatwaves (MODERATE)
 Increased geographic range of disease vectors (e.g. mosquitoes)
(MODERATE)
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Some key issues – inland water
 Most inland water systems in Australia are permanently or
seasonally limited by a shortage of water
 Ongoing impacts from historical land use practices, introduction
of pests and weeds, and unsustainable water resource
development
 Largest future threat comes from combination of drying and
warming conditions, due to climate change
 Meeting our water needs will remain a critical challenge
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Expanse of Australia’s
waterways
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Water consumption by sector and jurisdiction
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Ecosystem health in the Murray-Darling Basin
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Declines in freshwater-dependent species
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Presence of aquatic weed species
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Some key issues – land
 Australia’s land environment is threatened by widespread
pressures

invasive species

inappropriate fire patterns

grazing
 Threats to our soil, including acidification, erosion and the
loss of soil carbon, will increasingly affect Australia’s
agriculture unless carefully managed
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Percentage of native vegetation remaining
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Soil acidification in Australia
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Some key issues – marine environment
 Legacy impacts and habitat degradation continue to affect
nearshore areas particularly in the east, south-east and southwest
 Increased likelihoods of risks to biodiversity and productivity in
nearshore waters due to climate change

sea-level rise

frequency of extreme weather events

altered current patterns and acidity
 Integrated management will be key to the future conservation
of our ocean resources
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Harvesting intensity of Cwlth managed fisheries
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Declining value of fisheries
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Some key issues – Antarctic environment
 The Antarctic environment is showing clear signs of climate
change
 The pressure of human activities on Antarctica and the
Southern Ocean is increasing
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Ice mass changes for the entire Antarctic ice sheet
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Some key issues – biodiversity
 Our unique biodiversity is in decline, and the trends might
be worse than previously expected.
 Most pressures on biodiversity that arise directly or
indirectly from human activities appear to still be strong.
 We depend on biodiversity for our survival and wellbeing.
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Number of threatened species
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Percent of known mammal taxa listed as threatened
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Percent of known bird taxa listed as threatened
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Clearing and fragmentation of native ecosystems
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Pressures affecting threatened species
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Biodiversity knowledge at national scale
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Some key issues – heritage
 Our natural and cultural heritage is threatened by natural
and human processes, and a lack of public sector
resourcing
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Additions to National Heritage List 05-06 to 10-11
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Number of heritage places listed per hundred people
(by local government area)
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Some key issues – built environment
 Main pressures on liveability of communities are driven by
population and economic growth

Increasing need for space

Traffic congestion

Air quality concerns
 New risks posed increased likelihood of extreme weather events
 Challenges with maintaining positive trends in energy and water
efficiency, coordinated urban planning
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Motorised transport modes in capital cities
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Costs of traffic congestion
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Percentage using public transport
City
1996
2000
2003
Change between
1996 and 2006c
2006
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 citiesa
16.3
17.2
17.9
19.1
17.2
2.7
1.9
2.4
1.7
–37.0
11.9
12.2
13.0
13.5
13.4
Other areasb
Australia
a
b
c
Source:
Excludes Darwin
Includes Darwin and all other places outside capital cities
Represents the change in the proportion of adults using public transport for their usual trip to work or study
Australian Bureau of Statistics
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Exceedences for particulate air pollutants
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Household energy usage
www.environment.gov.au/soe
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Some key issues – coasts
 Coastal regions are under pressure and bring together many of
the issues affecting other parts of the environment
 Major emerging risks for Australia’s coasts

Climate change (especially sea level rise)

Demographic change
 Coordinated management will be needed to mitigate pressures
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Sea level rise (mm/year) - early 1990s to June 2010
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Threatened species within 100km of the coast
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Estimate of residential buildings at risk of inundation
www.environment.gov.au/soe
Intentions and impacts of SoE 2011...
 Based on available information and expert opinio,n 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 it 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