Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series...

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www.environment.gov.au/ soe 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.ht ml Or contact the SoE team via email: [email protected]

Transcript of Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series...

Page 1: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

www.environment.gov.au/soe

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

Page 2: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

www.environment.gov.au/soe

New cover page

Presentation - Land chapter overviewPhoto: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft

Page 3: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

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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.

Page 5: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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)

Page 6: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 9: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

www.environment.gov.au/soe

Page 10: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

www.environment.gov.au/soe

Page 11: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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?

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SoE 2011 Headlines

17 headlines in

summary chapter

give a high level

overview of the

big issues

Page 14: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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Key Findings (in theme chapters)

‘key findings’

give an

overview of

more specific

conclusions

for each

theme

Page 15: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 16: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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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Page 19: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 21: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 22: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 24: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 25: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 26: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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State and trends of soil – soil acidification

Lime sales, WA

Page 27: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 28: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 29: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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Percentage of native vegetation remaining

Page 30: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 31: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 32: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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Pressures: soil erosion by water and wind

Dust storms remain an issue but are less volatile than in the 1940s

Photo by: John Pryke

Page 33: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 34: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 35: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 36: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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Case study: connectivity conservation in Australian landscapes

Photo by: Nick Rains

Box 5.2 of the report

Full case study online:

www.environment.gov.au/

soe

- see ‘supplementary

material’

Page 37: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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)

Page 38: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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

Page 39: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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Other SoE 2011 content related to land

Biodiversity

Built Environment

Coasts

Explore and discover linkages that are important to you

Page 40: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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Explore Land chapter of Australia State

of the Environment 2011

In Brief

Online www.environment.gov.au/soe

Supplementary products

Page 41: Www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 – Land Chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

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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 copiesemail: [email protected]

Or read it online: www.environment.gov.au/soe