Australia’s environment has been deteriorating more and more over the last five years because of climate change, pollution, and mining.
A new government report warned that Australia’s natural world holds the key to human wellbeing and survival and that the country’s environment is at risk.
The state of the environment report is a review completed by scientists every five years. They finished this latest report last year but it was held back by the previous government, Morrison, until after the election. His government lost the election.
The report found abrupt changes in some of the ecosystems over the past five years. At least 19 ecosystems are collapsing or near collapsing.
National and state governments have tried to address the issue, but the report found that there has not been enough funding dedicated to the environment. There has also been a lack of coordination across jurisdictions to properly address the cumulative impacts of the issue.
Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek is set to release the five-yearly report today at the National Press Club.
Plibersek said the report was a “shocking document” that told “a story of crisis and decline in Australia’s environment, and a decade of government inaction and willful ignorance.”
“I won’t be putting my head in the sand,” Plibersek said.
“Under Labor, the environment is back on the priority list.”
The World Economic Forum is quoted in the report that environmental degradation is now considered a threat to humanity that can “bring about societal collapses with long-lasting and severe consequences.”
Since 2016, 202 animal and plant species have been listed as threatened matters of national environmental significance. This follows another 175 having been added to the list between 2011 and 2016.
The majority of species have not had improved trajectories over the past five years. A government threatened species strategy improved 21 priority species’ trajectories, but many others did not show improvements.
More mammal species have been lost in Australia than on any other continent. Australia has one of the highest rates of species decline in the developed world. More than 100 animal species have been listed as extinct or extinct in the wild.
Water levels have been at record lows, killing native fish populations in rivers and catchments. Marine heatwaves have caused mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. Ocean acidification is nearing a tipping point that will cause the decline of juvenile coral. Coral reefs were in poor and deteriorating conditions overall.
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