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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.
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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: soe@environment.gov.au
New cover page Presentation – SoE 2011 Overview 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 1996 2001 2006 2011
Purpose of SoE 2011 Provide relevant and useful information on environmental issues to the public and decision-makers... … to raise awareness and support more informed environmental management decisions … … leading to more sustainable use and effective conservation of environmental assets.
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)
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
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)
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
Drivers chapter – context for rest of SoE • How are a changing climate, population growth and economic growth creating pressures on our environment?
Headlines (in Summary chapter) • 17 headlines in summary chapter give a high level overview of the big issues
Key Findings (in Theme chapters) • ‘key findings’ give an overview of more specific conclusions for each theme
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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
Some key issues – marine environment • Legacy impacts and habitat degradation continue to affect nearshore areas particularly in the east, south-east and south-west • 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
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
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.
