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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

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.

Graphs, maps and tables

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Figure 1 Impacts of actions of varying ambitions on natural capital
Figure 2 Distribution and extent of MVGs mapped in the National Vegetation Information System version 6.0
Map showing the distribution of vegetation in Australia. For example, we see rainforest in the north of Queensland, eucalypt forest in the Great Dividing Range, hummock grasslands in the centre, and so on.

MVG = major vegetation group

Notes:

  1. Each state and territory undertakes field ecological surveys and variously integrates with data from aerial photography and satellite remote sensing to interpret and map the extent of their native vegetation. Those data are aggregated at the national level using data standards developed under the National Vegetation Information System (NVIS Technical Working Group 2017). Each jurisdiction’s definition of native vegetation is different, resulting in differences in the mapped interpretation of remnant vegetation.
  2. Total area of remaining native vegetation: 664 million hectares (86.5% of the Australian continent).
  3. Numbers against native MVGs in the legend are the extent of that MVG as a percentage of the total remaining native vegetation.
  4. Area of Cleared, non-native vegetation, buildings: 102 million hectares (13.2% of the Australian continent).
  5. Area of Regrowth, modified native vegetation: 2 million hectares (0.3% of the Australian continent).

Sources: DAWE (2020g), using highly variable dates for source datasets from different states; map projection: Australian Albers GDA94 (ICSM n.d.)

For more information, go toNative vegetation
Figure 3 Extent of remnant, regrowth/modified and removed native vegetation for each MVG, labelled with the extent of remnant native vegetation in that group as a percentage of its pre-1750 extent
Bar chart showing that for most vegetation groups remnant is the largest category, followed by removed; there is little regrowth. For eucalypt woodlands, around a third has been removed, while regrowth is just a per cent or two.

MVG = major vegetation group

Notes:

  1. The classification and extent of native MVGs derive from pre-1750 mapping (DAWE 2020h). The current status of each pre-1750 MVG is assessed by comparing with the extant MVG mapping (DAWE 2020g) using the following categories:
  2. ‘Remnant’ is the area within the extent of each pre-1750 MVG (DAWE 2020i) that remains extant native vegetation (i.e. any one of the MVGs listed as ‘remnant native vegetation’ in Figure 2).
  3. ‘Removed’ is the area within the extent of each pre-1750 MVG (DAWE 2020i) that is now in the following extant MVG (DAWE 2020j): Cleared, non-native vegetation, buildings.
  4. ‘Regrowth/modified’ is the area within the extent of each pre-1750 MVG (DAWE 2020i) that is now in the following extant MVG (DAWE 2020j): Regrowth, modified native vegetation.
  5. MVGs not shown: Unclassified forest, Unclassified native vegetation, Sea and estuaries, and Unknown/no data.

Sources: Based on DAWE (2020g), DAWE (2020h)

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Figure 4 Human footprint map for Australia, 2013
Figure 5 Ecological carrying capacity of terrestrial habitat in (a) New South Wales in 2013, and (b) for part of the Brigalow Belt South (BBS) bioregion, adjacent to the Sydney Basin (SYB) bioregion
Map showing that for most of New South Wales the carrying capacity is below 60%, and often below 20%. Only a strip up the coast is above 60%.

Notes:

  1. Bioregion codes are defined in Thackway & Cresswell (1995) and DoE (2016).
  2. This indicator of ecological carrying capacity uses connectivity to account for fragmentation.

Sources: Adapted from DPIE (2020d), based on data from Love et al. (2020); map projection: Geographic GDA94 (ICSM n.d.)

For more information, go toNative vegetation
Figure 6 Bioregional patterns of mean native vegetation condition used to define 3 land-use intensity zones, 2001–18
Map showing that the Habitat Condition Assessment System score is very low around population centres and key farming regions like the Western Australian wheatbelt. Deeper inland, it tends to increase. The relatively natural zone is really limited to inlan

ELZ = extensive land-use zone; HCAS = Habitat Condition Assessment System; IBRA = Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia; ILZ = intensive land-use zone; RNZ = relatively natural zone

Notes:

  1. Derived from HCAS v2.1 (see case study: Assessing condition of habitat consistently and nationally). The inset map shows 3 land-use intensity zones delineated by the thick black boundaries on the main map. The ILZ is where the mean HCAS scores are ≤0.7. The ELZ is where the mean HCAS scores are >0.7 and ≤0.8. The RNZ is where the mean HCAS scores are >0.8.
  2. The legend shows the continuous HCAS v2.1 score grouped into 0.1 classes and relates these to the Vegetation Assets, States and Transitions (VAST) framework narrative (Thackway & Lesslie 2006) to guide interpretation, labelled as ‘residual’, ‘modified’, ‘transformed’, ‘replaced’ or ‘removed’.

Sources: HCAS v2.1 (2001–18) from Williams et al. (2021b); VAST framework from Thackway & Cresswell (1995); IBRA 7 bioregions from DoE (2016); map projection: Australian Albers GDA94 (ICSM n.d.)

For more information, go toNative vegetation
Figure 7 Variability in terrestrial habitat condition in Australia’s MVGs
Box and whisker plot showing that for most vegetation groups, the median habitat condition score lies between 0.8 and 0.9, though some are lower, like areas that have been cleared or have building on them, and for hummock grasslands and regrowth.

HCAS = Habitat Condition Assessment System; MVG = major vegetation group; NVIS = National Vegetation Information System; VAST = Vegetation Assets, States and Transitions

Notes:

  1. The box and whisker plots show the distribution of habitat condition scores between 0.0 and 1.0 for 5 summary statistics: minimum to first quartile (left whisker), first quartile to third quartile (box), median (line inside the box), and third quartile to maximum (right whisker). All MVGs have at least one 250-metre pixel with a minimum value of 0.0 and at least one other with a maximum value of 1.0, so whiskers cover the full range.
  2. Interpretation of scores follows the VAST framework narrative (Thackway & Lesslie 2006) shown in Figure 6 (residual, modified, transformed, replaced, removed).
  3. NVIS v6.0 pre-1750 MVGs not shown: Mangroves; Inland Aquatic – freshwater, salt lakes, lagoons, Unclassified native vegetation; Unclassified forest; Unknown/no data. HCAS v2.1 condition scores do not apply to these MVGs.
  4. Excluded from analysis: commercial plantation forestry – defined by MPIGA & NFISC (2018); inland water bodies and salt lakes – defined by ‘AHGFWaterbodyLargest’ polygon in BOM (2012); and the Water Observations from Space dataset over the period 2001–14 indicating >80 water presence (GA 2015). These areas did not contribute to the HCAS v2.1 summary statistics for each MVG.
  5. The following MVGs are not native vegetation: Regrowth, modified native vegetation; Cleared, non-native vegetation, buildings.

Sources: HCAS v2.1 (2001–18), described in Williams et al. (2021b); NVIS v6.0 pre-1750 MVGs from DAWE (2020g)

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Figure 8 Extent of modification of MVGs

HCAS = Habitat Condition Assessment System; MVG = major vegetation group; NVIS = National Vegetation Information System

Notes:

  1. Assessed using HCAS v2.1 (see case study: Assessing condition of habitat consistently and nationally). Condition scores are aggregated in 5 classes of 0.2 increments for comparison with Figure LAN30 in the 2016 state of the environment report (Metcalfe & Bui 2017), and related to the Vegetation Assets, States and Transitions (VAST) framework narrative (Thackway & Lesslie 2006) to guide interpretation: residual, modified, transformed, replaced, removed.
  2. NVIS v6.0 pre-1750 MVGs not shown: Mangroves; Inland Aquatic – freshwater, salt lakes, lagoons; Unclassified native vegetation; Unclassified forest; Unknown/no data. HCAS v2.1 condition scores do not apply to these MVGs.
  3. Excluded from analysis: commercial plantation forestry – defined by MPIGA & NFISC (2018); inland water bodies and salt lakes – defined by ‘AHGFWaterbodyLargest’ polygon in BOM (2012); and the Water Observations from Space dataset over the period 2001–14 indicating >80 water presence (GA 2015). These areas did not contribute to the HCAS v2.1 summary statistics for each MVG.

Sources: HCAS v2.1 (2001–18) described in Williams et al. (2021b); NVIS v6.0 pre-1750 MVGs from DAWE (2020h)

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Figure 9 A national perspective on habitat condition for terrestrial biodiversity, showing the continuous site-level score in 5 classes that approximate the VAST narrative framework
Map showing that vegetation is likely to have been removed in the cities and the major farming areas, like the Riverina and the Western Australian wheat belt.

HCAS = Habitat Condition Assessment System; VAST = Vegetation Assets, States and Transitions

Notes:

  1. HCAS estimates departure from reference (intact ecosystems) as depicted by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite remote sensing of vegetation cover for 250 × 250-metre pixels. HCAS scores less than 0.4 potentially represent places where some dominant structuring plant species indigenous to the locality may still be present but the land is largely under some form of cultivation. At lower scores (<0.2) the indigenous species have most likely been replaced by some form of intensive land use.
  2. Excluded: water bodies, salt lakes.

Sources: Williams et al. (2021b), Harwood et al. (2021b); map projection: Australian Albers GDA94 (ICSM n.d.)

For more information, go toNative vegetation
Figure 10 Linkages between soil-related threats that degrade soil functions and soil-based ecosystem services