Our unique Australian environment is precious and much-loved by all Australians. Our landscapes, biodiversity, air, coast and seas are facing pressures unlike ever before and science, research and innovation will be critical to turn the tide of environment deterioration and degradation in the future. 

Scientists from across Australia have meticulously gathered and assessed the evidence that has contributed to this timely snapshot of Australia’s environment, which is facing significant challenges due to increasing pressures from climate change, pollution, resource extraction, habitat loss and invasive species.   

I would urge all Australians to engage deeply with this report, as a declining environment affects all of us. By working together to take action, we can help our environment to heal.   

Science from CSIRO has played a key contribution to this report, with cutting-edge scientific tools, systems, models and data sets that were crucial in establishing its evidence base. This rigorous analysis will be critical to making better decisions on how we manage our environment in the future, including balancing its competing uses with protection and restoration.  

I pay my respects to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which we all live, because they have protected our environment for millennia – their voices are strong in the report to demonstrate the criticality of connection to healthy Country to heal Australia.

We knew this was coming. There is nothing in the State of the Environment report (SOE) that would catch anyone working in the field by surprise.

What is deflating is that it is the same story as 6 years ago (2016 SOE) and the 5 years before that (2011 SOE) and numerous state-based SOEs in between.

We know what needs to be done: massively reduce carbon emissions to address climate change; overhaul environmental laws to ensure effective protection of remnant habitat to address habitat loss; ramp up restoration on private land, particularly farms; value the contribution of nature to human society; and massively increase funding for targeted threatened species programs, which we know can work when resourced and based on evidence-based science. There is no more time to waste.

There are multiple pressures on Australia’s coasts. Sea level rise will have a profound impact, with climate change impacts fast outweighing those from population and industry.

There is limited Indigenous leadership in the management of our coasts in Australia with further investment needed to improve power imbalances and to allow for increased relationships and partnerships when caring for Country.

The latest State of the Environment (SOE) report was released on Tuesday 19 July 2022 by the Minister for the Environment and Water.

The report is a comprehensive assessment of the state of Australia’s environment produced every five years by the Australian Government. It is an independent and evidence-based review that is mandated by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

CSIRO scientists have made significant contributions to State of the Environment 2021 as co-lead authors of six of the report’s chapters including Air Quality, Land, Marine, Coasts, Biodiversity, and Extreme Events. Our published science, data sets, models and tools were used extensively across the report’s comprehensive findings.

The State of the Environment Report has found that in a rapidly changing climate, with unsustainable development and use of resources, the general outlook for our environment is deteriorating. This is a result of increasing pressures from climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, and resource extraction.  

We welcome the inclusion of Indigenous authors, an entire Indigenous-led theme, and Indigenous-specific case studies in the report. It is a hugely significant change to this reporting – and CSIRO has been central in support of this approach.

The State of the Environment Report found intensity, frequency and distribution of extreme weather-related events are changing.

Impacts of extreme events have been exacerbated by habitat fragmentation, land management practices and invasive species, and extreme events are demonstrably impacting our environment, ecosystems, society and our wellbeing.

Research on extreme events and climate change is integrated widely across the report, as impacts of such acute events are felt widely across the built and natural environment, and affect biodiversity, production systems, industry, and community.

We need to continue to improve our understanding of the interplay between hazards, risks, vulnerability and impact to determine where to make the most significant investments.

The report on the State of the Environment just released, while damming, paints a more serious picture of the future of Australia’s environmental heritage because of what it doesn’t say.

The loss of 6.1 million ha of primary forest and much of the old growth since 1990, even if regrown spells disaster for iconic mature-forest dependent species such as Southern Greater Gliders (recently declared ‘endangered’), Yellow-bellied Gliders, Leadbeater’s Possums, Powerful Owls, Sooty Owls and many others.

Much of this loss is in publicly managed State forests, including the iconic tall forests which although regrown, are foreshadowed to be logged again within 60 years – much less than the return time for these mature-forest dependent species.

This return time for logging is within the period of conversion of essential habitat to a hostile state. It is also within the time-frame by which wildfires are more severe and less controllable, impacting not only on the mature-forest dependent species, but also local towns and suburbs; and therefore, people directly.

Climate change has long been known to make fires more severe and widespread. Interactions with continued intensive logging have also long been known to greatly exacerbate this failure of environmental management.

It would be useful for the next report to chronicle the impact of the loss of virtually all the mature forest in State forests available for logging within a 60-year period.

However, it would be far better for society to change to ‘ecologically sustainable forest management’ which encompasses the sustained yield of all habitat components provided by these forests.

This will involve a greatly reduced supply of timber to industry from State forests, but it could be a supply in perpetuity. This change will also contribute to the growth of a private plantation industry and make public forests more valuable, accessible and valued by people for all the benefits they provide.

The quality of the air we breathe affects the health of all Australians. There may be no ‘safe’ level of air quality in Australia, as health effects can be observed from relatively low levels of air pollution. 

Bushfires are the greatest threat to Australia’s air quality as they generate smoke that can be harmful to human health for days and sometimes weeks at a time. Wood heaters are a major cause of lower air quality in cities and prohibiting their use would improve air quality, particularly in the winter.

The most effective way of improving air quality is through targeting pollution sources and minimising our exposure to low air quality.

Ongoing development, testing and deployment of low-cost air quality sensors to supplement existing monitoring networks will be effective for localised real time air quality information.

Intense competition for land resources in Australia has resulted in continued declines in the amount and condition of our land-based natural capital – native vegetation, soil and biodiversity. This means that the overall state of Australia’s land and soil is poor.

Many parts of Australia are highly degraded, and native vegetation has been extensively cleared. The widespread reduction in the capacity of native vegetation to support Australia’s unique biodiversity is exacerbated by declining habitat quality, climate change and the prevalence of invasive species. It can take many decades for ecosystems to fully recover. 

Australian landscapes have a key role to play in carbon storage, above the ground in vegetation and below the ground sequestered in soils. While nationally there has been a slight decline in primary forest clearing from very high past levels, the amount of regrowth forest reclearing has remained high. Healthy soils and functioning ecosystems represent a significant opportunity for sequestering and storing carbon.

Land managed for nature conservation has remained relatively steady, with most increases coming from the private sector and the Indigenous estate. However, managing for climate change and invasive species remains a significant and growing challenge. 

Renewed focus on landscape recovery, and greater recognition and empowerment of Indigenous land management practices, where possible, can help us to heal Country and find new ways to gain a broad range of benefits.

Australia’s oceanic marine areas remain in generally good condition overall; however, some areas are deteriorating rapidly.

The State of the Environment report shows that pressures arising from climate change and pollution are not being adequately managed in Australia’s marine environment. There is a need for widespread uptake of integrated management approaches to effectively manage Australia’s marine environment.

Nearshore environments, like reefs, are in poor and deteriorating condition due to climate change and cumulative pressures.

Climate change continues to warm and acidify the ocean. Marine heatwaves also affect the quality of marine ecosystems. Several major marine heatwaves have been experienced in Australian waters over the last five years, contributing to an overall deteriorating trend for the marine environment.

Looking at pressures and components in isolation only tells part of the story for our marine environment. The SOE report suggests that new national systems are needed for integrated, inclusive and participatory ocean management. This could be enabled by a national integrated, adaptive, long-term marine environmental monitoring with strong Indigenous engagement.

Biodiversity is essential to a resilient natural environment, and to human survival, wellbeing and economic prosperity.  It is also integral to the culture of Indigenous Australians and to Australia’s national identity.

Pressures facing Australian biodiversity have not improved since the 2016 State of the Environment Report, and outcomes for species and ecosystems are generally poor.

Habitat loss and degradation, and invasive species result in persistent and sometimes irreversible impacts on biodiversity across almost all areas of Australia. 

Our inability to adequately manage pressures will continue to result in species extinctions and deteriorating ecosystem conditions unless current management approaches and investments are substantially improved.

The overall assessment that shallow water coral reef ecosystems are poor and declining confirms that further deterioration of Australia's internationally significant coral reef ecosystems has occurred over the last five years. This result is an indictment of the inability of current policies to protect our natural heritage.

To stabilise and protect coral reefs, what we need most is action outside the reef. We need leadership in government chambers and commitment around boardroom tables to immediately reduce carbon emissions, ratify environmental protection policies with teeth, and adequately resource environmental monitoring, research, and management.

The report includes changes occurring in the Antarctic region, and the sea ice skirting it. The Antarctic continent lies on the southern ‘doorstep’ of Australia and changes down there influence both weather and climate over Australia. In many senses, Antarctic acts like the ‘canary in the coalmine’ in providing early warnings on climate.

The report points to the strong variability of sea ice coverage. This ‘variability’ has been dominated by trends in two distinct phases. Comprehensive satellite sea ice monitoring commenced in 1979. Since that time, the amount of sea ice had steadily increased until 2016, followed by significant reductions. This turnaround reflected a change in the roles of the factors influencing ice. Pre-2016 atmospheric winds favoured sea ice expansion, even though mid-level oceanic waters were warming. The reversal reflects the greater role being played ocean warming in the recent period. These reductions have continued into this year, and February 2022 observed the lowest amount of sea ice ever recorded over the entire satellite record. 

The State of the Environment Report emphasises that climate change, driven by the burning of coal, oil, and gas, is exacerbating extreme weather events across Australia, which are having severe impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem health. Directly related to my research with coral reef fishes, including sharks and rays, under the 1˚C warming the Great Barrier Reef has already experienced and the 1.5˚C toward which we are barrelling, species become stressed, and ecosystems face collapse. On top of this accelerated warming, marine heatwaves have caused mass coral bleaching on the Reef four times in less than a decade (i.e., 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2022). The increased frequency and severity of these events leaves minimal time for species to adjust over the short term (acclimation), recover from the repeated heat stress, or adapt (change their DNA over generations) over the long term. This is especially worrisome for key predators like sharks that have slow generation times, needing a decade, if not more, to reach sexual maturity, but are so important for ecosystem health. Every element of the ecosystem feels the heat!

We are in a critical decade where our rapid and profound action on climate change can preserve biodiversity, species, and ecosystems, such as the Great Barrier Reef. The Reef is part of our identity as Australians; however, the ecological benefits and billions of dollars to the economy the Reef provides exclusively depend on the health and integrity of its ecosystems. We need to shift toward clean energy today. One huge step in that direction is by considering the effects of climate change and rejecting any new coal/gas projects that are on the table so that we can reach net zero emissions by 2035. A clean economy is win/win for all of Australia and unlocks so many opportunities for which we can be extremely proud, just as we are of our natural spaces, like the Reef.

While Australia has always been a land of extreme weather and climate variability - experiencing drought and heat, fires and floods - human-caused climate change is causing extremes to occur more often and with more devastating impacts. In recent years we've seen extreme events that have caused catastrophic damage to flora and fauna on land and in the oceans around Australia. Our greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet and raising the odds of widespread fire events and deadly and destructive heatwaves.

This report should act as a wake-up call to the damage we are doing to the world around us. We must decarbonise our economy and society as rapidly as possible to try and limit the environmental losses that we will experience as we keep warming the world.

This report shows that while urbanisation is a big part of the problem when it comes to biodiversity loss, improving nature within our urban environments must be part of the solution. Australia’s cities and towns are home to more than 96% of our population and 46% of threatened species – including some plants and animals that can’t be found anywhere else in the word. This means that every Australian has an opportunity to be on the conservation frontline: saving species in the places they live and work. Our research revealed a huge appetite for nature conservation in cities, but actions occur in isolated pockets and need more support. We need novel solutions to address the unique challenges of saving nature in cities, research to better understand how urban biodiversity is trending, and a culture shift to support cities as spaces for nature as well as people. If we want people to better support biodiversity, to really get involved in environmental issues, we need to make nature part of every Australian’s everyday experience – something they can see, enjoy, and help save.

The outlook for the Australian environment is grim: critical thresholds in many natural systems are likely to be exceeded as global warming continues.

With Australia failing to halt species decline and with our biodiversity management systems broken, now is the time to establish a new national information system led by an independent agency to manage our nation’s biodiversity data.

Only through the establishment of such an agency will we actually understand and be able to choose steps to slow down or reverse biodiversity loss in Australia’s environment.

Inaction is not an option; nor is inadequate action.

The report makes clear that there is a significant under investment in the scientific knowledge and capacity needed to understand the state of the environment, to aid decision making and address emerging threats.

It also identifies a concerning lack of expertise in taxonomic sciences, heritage protection and digital analytical capacity, especially in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

What matters most is what steps governments take from here.

To protect our environment Australia must revisit its emission reduction commitments and work with other countries to provide the leadership and collaboration required to place Australia and the world on a safer climate trajectory.

Climate change has severe ramifications for the economic prosperity of many Australian industries: tourism, recreation, agriculture, fisheries and others, along with the durability of our built infrastructure and the resilience of urban eco-systems.

The Academy backs the report’s call for greater national leadership to help foster coordinated action and encourage investment to address our mounting environmental and heritage issues.

The report highlights other drivers of our declining environment in addition to climate change, including habitat loss and invasive species.

Despite finding that the Australian Government’s 2015 Threatened Species Strategy five-year action plan achieved partial success, by improving the trajectories of 21 priority species, many did not show improvements and, overall, the number of listed species has grown by 8% since 2016.

The Academy welcomes the inclusion of Indigenous voices and their cultural knowledge for the first time in a state of the environment report. The report is written by a panel of independent authors, including newly elected Fellow of the Academy, Professor Emma Johnston, using the best available evidence.

This authoritative and long-overdue report confirms in rigorous detail the grim reality of Australia’s utter failure of environmental and conservation stewardship. Bushfires devastating wildlife populations, extensive, repeated coral bleaching events, ecosystems collapsing across the continent…these events are all symptomatic of governments and society not acting on the science and evidence to sufficiently address key threats to biodiversity and promote a more sustainable future.

The good news is, it’s far from too late! If we act now and strengthen and enforce environmental laws, provide far greater investment to aid the protection and recovery of the environment and threatened species, and better engage with communities, we stand to gain substantial social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits. We simply must seize this opportunity!

The state of Australia’s environment is alarming and has been showing overall signs of decline for the last few decades. This is concerning, not only from an environmental perspective, but also from social and economic perspectives, because people and businesses in Australia rely very directly on healthy, functioning environments to survive and thrive. Recent extreme weather events have punctuated more gradual patterns of loss of both biodiversity and intact habitats which is having huge impacts on the land and in the sea,  and is already impacting people and our ways of life. 

We need to take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and switch to renewable energy. We also need to invest in the conservation of existing forests (on the land and in the sea) and other natural habitats to improve the resilience of our key ecosystems to further change. Investment in innovative solutions to sustainable development and restoration is also an important part of the solution to improve the state of our environment and ensure a decent quality of life for future generations of Australians.