SoE 2011 – Coasts chapter overview

1. SoE 2011 – Coasts 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. 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

2. New cover page Presentation - SoE 2011 – Coasts chapter overview Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

11. Assessment summaries in the report

12. Drivers chapter – context for rest of SoE • How are a changing climate, population growth and economic growth creating pressures on our environment?

13. SoE 2011 Headlines • 17 headlines in summary chapter give a high level overview of the big issues

14. Key Findings (in theme chapters) • ‘key findings’ give an overview of more specific conclusions for each theme

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

19. Introduction • This talk, and the Coasts chapter • use data drawn primarily from other parts of the SoE report • have a slightly different structure, with 4 sections: • Major issues • Governance • Risks & Resilience • Outlook Photo: Matt Lauder

20. Introduction • The transition between terrestrial and marine environments is one of the sharpest changes in habitat on Earth, with unique species and ecosystems • Australia’s population is focused strongly around its coastline, especially around estuaries of major river systems..... Photo: Reg Morrison Photo: Matt Lauder Photo: Nick Rains

21. Population distribution at June 2010

22. Introduction • Governance issues are highly complex, involving local, state and national governments and interest groups, with conflict where objectives differ • Future change will strongly impact the landscape and ecosystems of coastal environments Photo: Matt Lauder

23. Key findings • The major ongoing risks to Australia’s coasts are: • those relating to climate change, esp. sea level rise • demographic change • The future of coastal Australia depends largely on: • how rapidly these changes occur • how extreme they are, and • how Australians prepare for and respond to them

24. Key findings • Variations in climate, and changes in population size and composition have been major drivers of pressure on the coasts over the past decade • Pressures affecting Australian coasts are similar to those in previous SoE reports • The greatest reductions in native vegetation extent have been in eastern, SE and SW Australia • Some land use and management practices have reduced some pressures

25. Key findings • All chapters of this report cite examples of promising responses to coastal challenges by governments, but outcomes for some major issues are still not achieved • Debate about coastal governance and management advanced with the 2009 report Managing our coastal zone in a changing climate: the time to act is now • Recent research concluded that the ability to adapt to emerging pressures, especially climate change, is low and declining in many parts of Australia

26. Major issues for coastal environments • The 3 drivers of environmental change—climate change, population growth and economic growth—result in a range of pressures on our coastal environment • Our coastal regions bring together many of the issues identified for other themes • This section presents an assessment of the major drivers, pressures and impacts on the state of coastal environments, as well as the responses that have been made to manage coasts as a national asset

27. Major issues for coastal environments • Atmosphere • Inland water flows and use • Coastal land • Coastal marine waters • Biodiversity • Coastal heritage • Population growth & urban development Photo: Ilya Genkin

28. Major issues – atmosphere • Air quality in major urban centres is generally good • Climate change is emerging as a major driver of change for Australian coasts & marine areas • A significant impact of climate change is sea level rise (shown in next slide) • Management responses have focused on impacts of climate combined with other drivers/pressures • Responses include: • supporting scientific studies • dissemination of information • policies that facilitate adaptation • plans that factor in climate change Photo: Andrew C Webb

29. Local sea level rise – early 1990s to June 2010 mm/yr

30. Major issues – inland water flows and use • River pollution from upstream development and land use impacts estuaries and the nearshore coastal environment • Desalination of sea water to help offset water shortages brought on by climate change and drought increased sharply from 2005-10 • Coastal environments and their species particularly vulnerable to: • seawater intrusion • withdrawal of water from rivers for human use • Improved management of coastal waters during the last decade includes programs to ensure river and estuary health in metropolitan areas

31. Major issues – coastal land • Several major trends in land use that have had impacts on coastal Australia: • urban expansion in capital cities and major regional coastal cities • changes to rivers influencing nutrient and water flows; reductions in sediments and chemicals reaching the coast • expansion of conservation and Indigenous areas • declines in extent of native forest managed for wood production

32. Major issues – coastal land (continued) • increases in areas managed for conservation • disturbance of acid-sulfate soils remains a major consequence of coastal development, with significant costs • Introduced weeds and pest species have contributed to national reductions in biodiversity and marine, estuarine and coastal productivity. • For vegetation, impacts on the coastal strip are highly variable around the Australian coastline, as shown in the next slide.....

33. Remaining native vegetation for IBRA regions

34. Major issues – coastal marine waters • Pressures from fishing result from coastal urban development, population growth, and economic drivers, although fishing pressures decreasing overall • Sea surface temperatures have increased since the early 20th century, impacting in many ways, e.g. distribution & abundance of species • An emerging threat is from pathogens & pests; spread by people, cargo, fishing gear, & boats

35. Major issues – biodiversity • Introduction of weeds and other pests has contributed to national reductions in biodiversity, and in marine, estuarine and coastal productivity • Much uncertainty about how species and ecological systems will be affected by climate change • Many species are threatened by activities associated with Australia’s coast-based population......

36. Threatened species within 100km of the coast Source: Environmental Resources Information Network, Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2011

37. Major issues – coastal heritage • Coastal areas include many important sites of natural and cultural heritage, e.g. wetlands, places of importance to Indigenous people, colonial buildings, shipwrecks, threatened species and communities • Issues include: • erosion by wind/salt/storms • limited understanding of what is significant • declining connection between Indigenous people and coastal places • increasing numbers of invasive species • loss of habitat • competing priorities and limited funds Photo: Nick Rains

38. Major issues – population growth & urban development • Australia’s coastal population has been growing faster than the population of the rest of the country for several years • Increasingly, coastal councils are concerned about the very rapid growth of small settlements outside large centres • The drivers for such growth include: • attractions of beach and bush • employment • housing choices and affordability Photo: Matt Lauder

39. Population change in Australia, 2001-2010

40. Change in estimated resident population of NSW ‘sea-change’ local government areas, 2001-2010 Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics25

41. Major issues – population growth & urban development • Environmental controls on urban developments and the need for onsite containment of waste are of concern in coastal areas—challenging for resource-limited coastal councils • Effects on biodiversity can be direct and indirect • Other major impacts on coastal areas are tourism and recreation • Tackling pressures on coasts requires cooperation and strategic decision-making across several levels of government, but this has been slow • Solutions require addressing a range of social, economic and environmental issues

42. Governance of the coast • Much of the SOE report provide examples of promising responses to coastal challenges by governments • However, outcomes relating to several issues are not achieved • Uncertainty about how climate change will affect species and ecosystems • Local governments are concerned about the lack of guidelines, standards & national approaches to addressing: • coastal development • population growth • environmental impacts

43. Governance of the coast • Managers of coastal areas are concerned that development of Australia’s coasts has been uncoordinated • This led coastal councils to form the National Sea Change Taskforce in 2004 • The taskforce has actively developed and promoted solutions to state and Australian governments

44. Governance of the coast • The report Managing our coastal zone in a changing climate: the time to act is now was handed down in 2009, making 47 recommendations addressing: • planning laws • capacities of local councils • monitoring of coastal habitats • legal liabilities • The recent Hawke review of the EPBC Act 1999 recommended changes allowing it to be applied more strategically, and at broad scales • Many recommendations accepted by the Australian Government, but too soon to gauge success

45. Risks to and resilience of coastal communities and environments Coastal natural environments

46. Risks to and resilience of coastal communities and environments Resilience Coastal natural environments

47. Risks to and resilience of coastal communities and environments Resilience Coastal natural environments Future prospects

48. Risks to and resilience of coastal communities and environments Resilience Society Economy Culture Coastal natural environments Future prospects

49. Risks to and resilience of coastal communities and environments Resilience Society Economy Culture Coastal natural environments Future prospects

50. Risks to and resilience of coastal communities and environments Resilience People ...living on ...depending on ...influencing Coasts Society Economy Culture Coastal natural environments Future prospects