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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

Showing results 31 - 40 of 105
Figure 31 Average resource life for major commodities, as of December 2016
Bar graph showing that uranium (350 years for all uranium resources), coal, lithium, manganese and nickel (220 years) have the longest resource lives (in that order), while diamond (10 years), oil, gold and gas (all around 50) have the shortest.

Notes:

  1. Resource life are ratios of resources over production that represent a snapshot in time. They assume that (a) future production continues at the same rate and (b) do not take into account future resource upgrades and successful exploration for new deposits.
  2. Figures for oil and gas are a closest estimation of petroleum equivalent.
  3. All figures are rounded to the nearest 5 years.

Source: DISER (2020a)

For more information, go toIndustry
Figure 32 Mines and hard rock quarries across Australia
Figure 33 Land (in brown) subject to deforestation where there has been direct human-induced conversion of forest to alternative land uses between 1990 and 2019
Map showing that most of the deforestation has happened in Queensland.

Notes:

  1. Forest is defined as woody vegetation with a minimum 20% canopy cover, at least 2 metres high and a minimum area of 0.2 hectares.
  2. Locations where sparse woody vegetation or nonwoody vegetation has been converted to alternative land uses are not shown.

Sources: DISER (2021c); map projection: Australian Albers GDA94 (ICSM n.d.)

For more information, go toIndustry
Figure 34 Annual areas of primary clearing, reclearing, identified regrowth and resultant net change of forest in Australia, 1990–2019
Bar graph showing that the net change in forest area was negative from before 1990 to 2009 (typically losses of 400 thousand hectares per year), positive but small from 2009 to 2016 (around 50 hectares per year), and has since been negative (but small) ag

Notes:

  1. Forest is defined as woody vegetation with a minimum 20% canopy cover, at least 2 metres high and a minimum area of 0.2 hectares.
  2. The annual area of identified regrowth in one year may become reclearing or continue as identified regrowth in the following year (i.e. some will be sustained regrowth – areas that had identified regrowth in an earlier year and continue to show forest cover).
  3. The line is the net gain or loss.

Sources: Based on Activity Tables 1a and 1b (DISER 2021a, DISER 2021d)

For more information, go toIndustry
Figure 35 Annual areas of gains and losses in sparse woody vegetation (including grasslands and shrublands), 1990–2019
Figure 36 Annual areas of gains and losses in woody vegetation (forest, regrowth or sparse), by state or territory, 1990–2019
Graph showing that area of woody vegetation has fluctuated since 1990, with good increases around 2009 (up to 1.5 million hectares per year) but losses in all years before 2007.

ACT = Australian Capital Territory; NSW = New South Wales; NT = Northern Territory; Qld = Queensland; SA = South Australia; Tas = Tasmania; Vic = Victoria; WA = Western Australia

Notes:

  1. Loss of woody vegetation is shown as negative areas, gains in woody vegetation where area is greater than zero. Area of nonwoody vegetation loss/gain (<5% woody canopy cover) not included.
  2. Line is the net loss/gain.
  3. Woody vegetation classed as forest or regrowth based on Activity Tables 1a and 1b, and sparse woody vegetation (including grasslands and shrubs) based on Activity Table 5 (DISER 2021a, DISER 2021d).

Sources: DISER (2021a), DISER (2021d)

For more information, go toIndustry
Figure 37 Loss of potential habitat for threatened species and migratory species, and threatened ecological communities, 2000–17
Maps showing that non-compliant loss is much more common than compliant loss, and is concentrated in Queensland and south-western inland Western Australia, with scatterings elsewhere.

Note: Compliant loss occurs with a referral under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Noncompliant loss occurs without a referral. Three panels highlight the southern Western Australia coast (left), Tasmania (middle) and northern Queensland coast (right).

Source: Ward et al. (2019)

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Figure 38 Annual losses in woody vegetation in New South Wales, for agriculture, forestry and infrastructure land uses, 2009–19
Bar graph showing that in New South Wales forestry clearing was the leading cause of vegetation loss until 2016, when it peaked at over 30 thousand hectares, after which it has been similar to agriculture, which has increased steadily since 2009. Infrastr

Notes:

  1. Forestry clearing includes plantation as well as native forest harvest, and agricultural clearing may also include clearing of non-native woody weeds and replacement of woody horticulture. Forest re-establishment usually occurs in areas subjected to forest harvesting. Reduction in woody vegetation cover due to fire is usually temporary and therefore not included. See the results spreadsheet cited in DPIE (2021a) for notes on data.
  2. New South Wales reports annual loss of woody vegetation only; methods for mapping regrowing vegetation are under development.

Source: Figure 6 in DPIE (2021a)

For more information, go toIndustry
Figure 39 Locations of woody vegetation loss in New South Wales as a percentage of existing woody vegetation, within 25 × 25-kilometre grid cells, 2019
Figure 40 Proportion of vegetation loss for categories of infrastructure, 2019