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 The full report should be referred to for understanding the context of this information. For more information please refer to: Or contact the SoE team via

New cover page Presentation - Land 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

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

Key findings Threats from widespread landscape-scale pressures changing land use land clearing

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

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

Land state and trends Land management practices have improved Loss of soil carbon, and soil acidification and erosion Loss of native vegetation

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

State and trends of soil – soil carbon A ssessment tables provide insight into the state and trend of Australia’s land environment

State and trends of soil – soil acidification Lime sales, WA

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

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

Percentage of native vegetation remaining

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

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

Pressures: soil erosion by water and wind Dust storms remain an issue but are less volatile than in the 1940s Photo by: John Pryke

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

Case study: Caring for Country – Indigenous land and sea management Box 5.1 of the report Full case study online: soe - see ‘supplementary material’ soe Photo by Yirralka Rangers & DSEWPaC

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

Case study: connectivity conservation in Australian landscapes Photo by: Nick Rains Box 5.2 of the report Full case study online: soe - see ‘supplementary material’ soe

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)

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

Other SoE 2011 content related to land Biodiversity Built Environment Coasts Explore and discover linkages that are important to you

Explore Land chapter of Australia State of the Environment 2011 In Brief Online Supplementary products

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 To order copies Or read it online :