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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.

Graphs, maps and tables

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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 62 Indigenous trainees on Roebuck Plains station, Yawuru country, Western Australia (left); Tourists and visitors at the Talaroo Hot Springs on Ewamian Country, Queensland (right)
Figure 20 Burned area frequency in forests and grasslands from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer satellite imagery, 1988–2020
Figure 73 Harvesting mi marral (Kakadu plum) at Wadeye, Palngun Wurnangat Aboriginal Corporation, Northern Territory (left). Mamabulanjin Aboriginal Corporation (Western Australia) and Thamarrurr Development Corporation (Northern Territory) have freeze-dried Kakadu plum powder for wholesale (right)
Photographs of a person picking fruit, and then an open hand holding a small pile of greenish power.

Photos: left – Northern Australia Aboriginal Kakadu Plum Alliance; right – Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation

For more information, go toManagement of specific pressures
Figure 66 Erosion control projects that rehabilitate large and active gullies (left – before; right – after) well connected to river systems are the most effective at improving water quality in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon
Photographs showing a bare, eroded landscape of gullies and orange earth on the left, and, a green, terraced area that looks much healthier.

Photos: NQ Dry Tropics and Queensland Government Landholders Driving Change Program

Source: Figure 67 in Bartley et al. (2020). Used with permission.

For more information, go toManagement approaches
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 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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For more information, go toNative vegetation
Figure 59 Extent of Indigenous Protected Areas as of October 2020, and native title as of June 2021
Map showing that terrestrial Indigenous Protected Areas and native title are concentrated in the region around the meeting of the South Australia, Western Australian and Northern Territory borders, with some other regions in northern Northern Territory an

ha = hectare

Notes: 1 – Nantawarrina (58,347 ha); 2 – Preminghana (529 ha); 3 – Risdon Cove (79 ha); 4 – Putalina (38 ha); 5 – Deen Maar (427 ha); 6 – Yalata (464,397 ha); 7 – Watarru (1,657,183 ha); 8 – Walalkara (1,068,856 ha); 9 – Mount Chappell Island (323 ha); 10 – Badger Island (1,243 ha); 11 – Guanaba (99 ha); 12 – Warul Kawa (43 ha); 13 – Dhimurru (135,771 ha); 14 – Wattleridge (645 ha); 15 – Mount Willoughby (420,680 ha); 16 – Paruku (428,560 ha); 17 – Ngaanyatjarra (9,974,049 ha); 18 – Tyrendarra (237 ha); 19 – Toogimbie (4,114 ha); 20 – Anindilyakwa (261,053 ha); 21 – Laynhapuy - Stage 1 (478,248 ha); 22 – Ninghan (46,835 ha); 23 – Northern Tanami (4,003,654 ha); 24 – Warlu Jilajaa Jumu (1,616,606 ha); 25 – Kaanju Ngaachi Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers (179,889 ha); 26 – Babel Island (441 ha); 27 – Great Dog Island (354 ha); 28 – lungatalanana (8,159 ha); 29 – Pulu (15 ha); 30 – Tarriwa Kurrukun (0,929 ha); 31 – Angas Downs (320,385 ha); 32 – Warddeken (1,370,496 ha); 33 – Djelk (640,467 ha); 34 – Jamba Dhandan Duringala (38,294 ha); 35 – Kurtonitj (367 ha); 36 – Framlingham Forest (1,142 ha); 37 – Kalka–Pipalyatjara (558,522 ha); 38 – Boorabee and The Willows (2,713 ha); 39 – Lake Condah (1,522 ha); 40 – Marri-Jabin (Thamurrurr, Stage 1) (69,504 ha); 41 – Brewarrina Ngemba Billabong (261 ha); 42 – Uunguu (759,459 ha); 43 – Apara - Makiri - Punti (1,107,523 ha); 44 – Antara – Sandy Bore (842,623 ha); 45 – Dorodong (85 ha); 46 – Weilmoringle (4,073 ha); 47 – Yanyuwa (Barni – Wardimantha Awara) (130,412 ha); 48 – Minyumai (2,160 ha); 49 – Gumma (111 ha); 50 – Mandingalbay Yidinji (5,967 ha); 51 – Southern Tanami (10,153,508 ha); 52 – Angkum, Stage 1 (4,504 ha); 53 – Ngunya Jargoon (861 ha); 54 – Birriliburu (6,667,353 ha); 55 – Eastern Kuku Yalanji (20,515 ha); 56 – Bardi Jawi (126,967 ha); 57 – Girringun (14,865 ha); 58 – Wilinggin (2,438,911 ha); 59 – Dambimangari (617,211 ha); 60 – Balanggarra (1,090,905 ha); 61 – Thuwathu/Bujimulla (124,966 ha); 62 – Yappala (10,885 ha); 63 – Wardaman (224,696 ha); 64 – Karajarri (2,440,426 ha); 65 – Nijinda Durlga (186,330 ha); 66 – Warraberalgal and Porumalgal (63 ha); 67 – Kiwirrkurra (4,268,253 ha); 68 – Nyangumarta Warrarn (2,616,042 ha); 69 – Matuwa and Kurrara-Kurrara (596,642 ha); 70 – Katiti Petermann (5,043,754 ha); 71 – Ganalanga-Mindibirrina (1,093,286 ha); 72 – Wardang Island (3,930 ha); 73 – Marthakal (323,047 ha); 74 – South-East Arnhem Land (1,819,909 ha); 75 – Yawuru (115,828 ha); 76 – Mawonga (21,987 ha); 77 – Ngururrpa (2,962,988 ha); 78 – Ngadju (4,399,301 ha)

Sources: DAWE (2021e), DAWE (2021ab), plus 2 additional Indigenous Protected areas gazetted October 2020 (Ngadju and Ngururrpa); NNTT (2021d); map projection: Australian Albers GDA94 (ICSM n.d.)

For more information, go toManagement approaches
Table 1 Native vegetation change matrix comparing extant NVIS datasets published in 2012 (version 4.1) and 2020 (version 6.0)

Stock

Removed (ha)

Remnant (ha)

Regrowth/modified (ha)

Not applicable (ha)

Opening stock

(NVIS 4.1 published in 2012)

100,480,723

665,380,436

1,047,420

2,491,405

Removed

0

−1,262,780

301,626

−32,091

Remnant

1,262,780

0

241,793

−141,480

Regrowth/modified

−301,626

−241,793

0

−611,356

Not applicable

32,091

141,480

611,356

0

Closing stock

(NVIS 6.0 published in 2020)

101,473,968

664,017,343

2,202,195

1,706,478

ha = hectare; MVG = major vegetation group; MVS = major vegetation subgroup; NVIS = National Vegetation Information System

Notes:

  1. Areas are based on NVIS extant (‘present’) vegetation mapping. Specifically, NVIS v4.1 MVS (DSEWPaC 2012) and NVIS v6.0 MVG (DAWE 2020g), using the following categories:
    ‘Remnant’ is the area within the ‘present’ extent of MVSs in NVIS v4.1 (DSEWPaC 2012) or the MVGs in NVIS v6.0 (DAWE 2020g). In the case of NVIS v6.0, any one of the MVGs listed as ‘remnant native vegetation’ in Figure 2.
    ‘Removed’ is the area within the ‘present’ extent of MVSs in NVIS v4.1 (DSEWPaC 2012) or the MVG in NVIS v6.0 (DAWE 2020j): Cleared, non-native vegetation, buildings.
    ‘Regrowth/modified’ is the area within the ‘present’ extent of MVSs in NVIS v4.1 (DSEWPaC 2012) or MVG in NVIS v6.0  (DAWE 2020j): Regrowth, modified native vegetation.
    ‘Not applicable’ comprises Sea and estuaries, and Unknown/no data.

2. NVIS is an aggregation of each jurisdiction’s mapping of native vegetation extent, and the timestamps of these source datasets are highly variable.

For more information, go toNative vegetation
Figure 1 Impacts of actions of varying ambitions on natural capital