Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Built Environment chapter - Overview This presentation is...

www.environment.gov.au/soe

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.htmlOr contact the SoE team via email:[email protected]


New cover page

Presentation – SoE 2011 Built environment chapter 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


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

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


Assessment summaries in the report


Drivers chapter – context for rest of SoE

How are a changing climate, population growth and economic growth creating pressures on our environment?


SoE 2011 Headlines

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? 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


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


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


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


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


Household energy use


Household distributed water use


Municipal waste generation, 2008-09


Municipal waste recovery rates, 2008-09


Use of motorised transport modes in capital cities


Cost of congestion for Australian metropolitan areas


Percentage of adults using public transport as the main form of transport for work or study

City 1996 2000 2003 2006Change between

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

Australia 11.9 12.2 13.0 13.5 13.4


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


Pressures affecting the built environment


Residents’ rating of state/territory government planning and managing of urban growth, 2011


Management effectiveness

Recent management initiatives:

COAG criteria for capital city planning

National Urban Policy

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Photo by Ilya Genkin


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


Resilience

The resilience of the built environment to pressures is variable

Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. Photo by Andrew Griffiths

The built environment is generally not resilient to pressures arising from growth, particularly population growth

More resilient to pressures associated with weather-related events


Risks

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

Increased urban footprint (almost certain, major)

Increased sea levels (almost certain, moderate)

Weather-related incidents, e.g:


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


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


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/soePhoto: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft

For more information email: [email protected]

To order copiesemail: [email protected]

phone: 1800 803 772 or read it online: www.environment.gov.au/soe

Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Built Environment chapter - Overview This presentation is...

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