Key report: Australia's environment in 'poor and deteriorating' state

Sydney (dpa) - Australia's environment is in a "poor and deteriorating" state overall and is facing increasing pressure from climate change, pollution and mining, a key report released Tuesday found.

Habitat loss and invasive species were also increasingly threatening species and ecosystems, while investment in biodiversity conservation is insufficient, according to the State of the Environment 2021 report, which is published every five years.

Australia has lost more mammal species than any other continent and has one of the highest rates of decline among member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the report said.

The number of species listed as threatened grew by 8% since 2016, and is expected to increase in the coming years as a result of the severe "Black Summer" bushfires in 2019-20.

The increasing frequency and severity of extreme events are affecting human wellbeing and rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns affected by climate change are putting pressure on inland water systems.

"Our inability to adequately manage pressures will continue to result in species extinctions and deteriorating ecosystem condition, which are reducing the environmental capital on which current and future economies depend," the report said. "Social, environmental and economic impacts are already apparent."

Australia experienced a drought from 2017 to 2019 that topped the worst-ever drought previously recorded, followed by bushfires in 2019-20 that saw huge areas of land burned, including 8 million hectares of native vegetation. In 2021 and this year, there have been record-breaking floods in the country's east.

The assessment, which was written by 37 independent experts, calls for greater national leadership to boost coordinated environmental action, citing cross-sector collaboration and a particular focus on developing solutions with Indigenous communities and knowledge.

The previous Australian government of Scott Morrison, which came under repeated criticism for its lack of environmental action, received the report last year but declined to release it ahead of the May election. The new Labor government of Anthony Albanese has pledged to step up climate action.

"If we continue on the trajectory that we are on, the precious places, landscapes, animals and plants that we think of when we thing of home may not be here for our kids and grandkids," Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek said as she presented the report at the National Press Club of Australia on Tuesday.

"What the environment really needs is a changed system," the minister said. "Without structural change we'll be resigning ourselves to another decade of failure without the tools we need to arrest our decline."

Plibersek also said the Albanese government would set a goal to protect 30% of Australia's land and 30% of its oceans by 2030, which could include the creation of new national parks and marine protected areas.

The minister said the government would also develop new environmental legislation for 2023.