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We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the sovereign Traditional Owners of Australia and thank them for their stewardship of this Country, its lands, waters and skies. We respectfully acknowledge their culture and customary practices, and pay respect to their Ancestors, Elders and future leaders.

For the first time, the State of the Environment report includes a strong Indigenous narrative across all 12 thematic chapters, a narrative crafted through recognising the leadership, collaboration and authorship of Indigenous Australians who continue their connection as Traditional Owners to their lands, waters and skies.

Click to view the State of the Environment report

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Authors and acknowledgements

Authors

Headshot of author Helen Murphy
Dr Helen Murphy
Dr Helen Murphy is a Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO Land and Water. She leads research focused on understanding the scale and magnitude of individual and cumulative threats to Australian biodiversity and the effectiveness of management interventions. She has a background in plant ecology and collaborates across domains spanning conservation, natural resource management, biosecurity and health, and sustainable development.  Dr Murphy is based in North Queensland and maintains a strong research interest in tropical ecosystem dynamics. A particular focus is on the impacts of invasive species, climate change and extreme climate events on the composition, structure and function of tropical forests. 
Headshot of author Stephen van Leeuwen
Dr Stephen van Leeuwen
Professor Stephen van Leeuwen, Australia’s first Indigenous Chair of Biodiversity and Environmental Science at Curtin University is a proud Wardandi Noongar with strong connections to Country in the Busselton - Margaret River region of Western Australia. As a botanical ecologist, research scientist and executive manager Professor van Leeuwen has established a diverse pedigree across biodiversity inventory, landscape ecology, threat mitigation, nature conservation and sustainable land management domains. He is empowered with the skills to combine his broad scientific competencies with a commitment to leadership in environmental research. Stephen is a member of the Department’s Indigenous Advisory Committee, Senior Indigenous Facilitator and Deputy Hub Leader of the National Environmental Science Program’s Resilient Landscape Hub and also contributes to the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, National Landcare Review Expert Reference Panel and other national, state and non-government committees. Stephen is passionate about Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage and achieving self-determination. He believes that to realise self-determination it is critical that decisions about the livelihoods and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians and most importantly their cultures, customs, heritage and stewardship of land, water and sea Country are made with if not by them – Always Was, Always Will Be.

Acknowledgements 

The authors thank all case study authors for their significant contributions to the Biodiversity chapter. We gratefully acknowledge the scientists, land managers, Traditional Owners and organisations who conducted the research that underpins this chapter and who willingly provided data for graphics, figures and maps. In addition, we thank Martin Taylor, Rachel Gallagher, Andre Zerger, Donald Hobern and Kevin Thiele for their contributions and discussions about key content in the chapter. 

The authors thank state, territory and Australian Government colleagues and the State of Environment User Reference Group for their critical reviews of scope, content and detail in earlier versions of the chapter. We also thank the independent Indigenous experts who undertook the Traditional Ecological Knowledge review. The substantial efforts of 2 anonymous peer reviewers are also gratefully acknowledged and their comments significantly improved the chapter. 

Our fellow state of environment chapter authors and the lead authors provided support, encouragement and expertise throughout the compilation of this chapter. 

Lastly, we thank the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment SoE team (listed in the Overview chapter), the Biotext team (listed in the Overview chapter); the Murawin team (listed in the Overview chapter); the Indigenous Advisory Committee; and the State of the Environment Project Board.