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
L
Laegdsgaard P (2006). Ecology, disturbance and restoration of coastal saltmarsh in Australia: a review. Wetlands Ecology and Management 14(5):379–399.
Lambeck K, Rouby H, Purcell A, Sun Y & Sambridge M (2014). Sea level and global ice volumes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(43):15296–15303.
Lares M, Ncibi MC, Sillanpää M & Sillanpää M (2019). Intercomparison study on commonly used methods to determine microplastics in wastewater and sludge samples. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 26(12):12109–12122.
Largier J & Taggart M (2006). Improving water quality at enclosed beaches: a report on the Enclosed Beach Symposium Workshop, State of California State Water Resources Control Board, California.
Larkum AW, Waycott M & Conran JG (2018). Evolution and biogeography of seagrasses. In: Seagrasses of Australia, Springer, 3–29.
Lawes JC, Strasiotto L, Daw S & Peden AE (2021). When Natural Hazards Intersect with Public Health: A Preliminary Exploration of the Impact of Bushfires and the COVID-19 Pandemic on Australian Coastal Drowning Fatalities. International journal of environmental research and public health 18(10):5314.
Layton C, Coleman MA, Marzinelli EM, Steinberg PD, Swearer SE, Vergés A, Wernberg T & Johnson CR (2020). Kelp forest restoration in Australia. Frontiers in Marine Science 7(74).
Lazo JK, Morss RE & Demuth JL (2009). 300 billion served: sources, perceptions, uses, and values of weather forecasts. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 90(6):785–798.
Lee JK, Jin-Young P, Hwa-Jung K, Hur W-H, Sung-Hyun K & Jin-Han K (2018). Effects of the Saemangeum Reclamation Project on migratory shorebird staging in the Saemangeum and Geum Estuaries, South Korea. Bird Conservation International 28(2):238–250.
Legge S, Woinarski JC, Burbidge AA, Palmer R, Ringma J, Radford JQ, Mitchell N, Bode M, Wintle B & Baseler M (2018). Havens for threatened Australian mammals: the contributions of fenced areas and offshore islands to the protection of mammal species susceptible to introduced predators. Wildlife Research 45(7):627–644.
Levy O, de Barros Marangoni LF, Benichou JI, Rottier C, Béraud E, Grover R & Ferrier-Pagès C (2020). Artificial light at night (ALAN) alters the physiology and biochemistry of symbiotic reef building corals. Environmental Pollution 266:114987.
Lewis A, Oliver S, Lymburner L, Evans B, Wyborn L, Mueller N, Raevksi G, Hooke J, Woodcock R & Sixsmith J (2017). The Australian geoscience data cube—foundations and lessons learned. Remote Sensing of Environment 202:276–292.
Ling SD, Sinclair M, Levi CJ, Reeves SE & Edgar GJ (2017). Ubiquity of microplastics in coastal seafloor sediments. Marine Pollution Bulletin 121(1):104–110.
Lisson A, Taffs KH & Christidis L (2017). Mapping foraging habitat for migratory shorebirds in their Australian non-breeding grounds and prioritising sites for conservation and management. Pacific Conservation Biology 23(1):32–42.
Llewellyn LE, Bainbridge S, Page G, O'Callaghan MD & Kingsford MJ (2016). StingerCam: a tool for ecologists and stakeholders to detect the presence of venomous tropical jellyfish. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 14(10):649–657.
Lovelock CE, Cahoon DR, Friess DA, Guntenspergen GR, Krauss KW, Reef R, Rogers K, Saunders ML, Sidik F & Swales A (2015). The vulnerability of Indo–Pacific mangrove forests to sea-level rise. Nature 526(7574):559–563.
Lovelock CE, Feller IC, Reef R, Hickey S & Ball MC (2017). Mangrove dieback during fluctuating sea levels. Scientific Reports 7(1):1–8.
Lowe MK & Kennedy DM (2016). Stability of artificial beaches in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia. Journal of Coastal Research 75(10075):253–257.
Lucas R, Finlayson CM, Bartolo R, Rogers K, Mitchell A, Woodroffe CD, Asbridge E & Ens E (2017). Historical perspectives on the mangroves of Kakadu National Park. Marine and Freshwater Research 69(7):1047–1063.
Lymburner L, Bunting P, Lucas R, Scarth P, Alam I, Phillips C, Ticehurst C & Held A (2020). Mapping the multi-decadal mangrove dynamics of the Australian coastline. Remote Sensing of Environment 238:111185.
Lyons I, Hill R, Deshong S, Mooney G & Turpin G (2019). Putting uncertainty under the cultural lens of Traditional Owners from the Great Barrier Reef catchments. Regional Environmental Change 19(6):1597–1610.