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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

 

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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Cahir F, McMaster S, Clark I, Kerin R & Wright W (2016). Winda Lingo Parugoneit or why set the bush (on) fire? Fire and Victorian Aboriginal people on the colonial frontier. Australian Historical Studies 47:225–240.

Campbell ML & Clarke PJ (2006). Response of montane wet sclerophyll forest understorey species to fire: evidence from high and low intensity fires. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 127:63–73.

Chapman A & Harrington GN (1997). Responses by birds to fire regime and vegetation at the wet sclerophyll/tropical rainforest boundary. Pacific Conservation Biology 3:213–220.

Chu JE, Lee SS, Timmermann A, Wengel C, Stuecker M & Yamaguchi R (2020). Reduced tropical cyclone densities and ocean effects due to anthropogenic greenhouse warming. Science Advances 6:eabd5109.

Clarkson C, Jacobs Z, Marwick B, Fullagar R, Wallis L, Smith M et al. (2017). Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago. Nature 547:306–310.

Coleman S (2016). Built environment. In: Australia state of the environment 2016, Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra.

Collins L, Bennett AF, Leonard SWJ & Penman TD (2019). Wildfire refugia in forests: severe fire weather and drought mute the influence of topography and fuel age. Global Change Biology 25:3829–3843.

Costello O, Dilworth T, Haynes K, Jansen T & Neale T (2021). Cultural land management in southeast Australia, Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, Melbourne.

Crowley GM & Preece ND (2019). Does extreme flooding drive vegetation and faunal composition across the Gulf Plains of north‐eastern Australia? Austral Ecology 44:1256–1270.

CSIRO & BOM (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation & Bureau of Meteorology) (2020). State of the climate 2020, CSIRO & BOM, Canberra.

CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) (2020). Climate and disaster resilience, CSIRO, Canberra.

CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) (2021). Forecasting marine heatwaves, CSIRO, Canberra, https://research.csiro.au/cor/climate-impacts-adaptation/marine-heatwaves/forecasting-marine-heatwaves/.