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

On 28 March 2025 the government assumed a Caretaker role. Information on websites maintained by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water will be published in accordance with the Guidance on Caretaker Conventions until after the conclusion of the caretaker period.

Due to technical issues, graphs, maps and tables are currently not displaying within the main content, however, are available via the chapter resources navigation bar. We are working on a solution to resolve the issue.

References

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Paltridge R & Skroblin A (2018). Threatened species monitoring on Aboriginal land: finding the common ground between Kuka, Jukurrpa, ranger work and science. In: Legge S, Lindenmayer DB, Robinson NM, Scheele BC, Southwell DM & Wintle BC (eds), Monitoring threatened species and ecological communities, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 321–332.

Perry J, Patykowski J, Murphy HT, Richards AE, Gillespie G, Vanderduys EP, Douglas MM, Setterfield S, Somaweera R & Lourie H (2021). Savanna fire regimes and biodiversity impacts in Northern Australia, UniPrint NT, Charles Darwin University, Darwin.

Porter JL, Kingsford RT & Brandis K (2019). Aerial survey of wetland birds in eastern Australia – October 2018 annual summary report, Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney.

Prober SM, Raisbeck-Brown N, Porter NB, Williams KJ, Leviston Z & Dickson F (2019). Recent climate-driven ecological change across a continent as perceived through local ecological knowledge. PLOS ONE 14(11):e0224625.

Pyke ML, Toussaint S, Close PG, Dobbs RJ, Davey I, George KJ et al. (2018). Wetlands need people: a framework for understanding and promoting Australian Indigenous wetland management. Ecology and Society 23(3):43.