Anticipating what's next after the State of the Environment Report 2021

2 August 2022 

The Federal Government has released the 2021 State of the Environment (SOE) Report, which has found that the cumulative effects of human pressures of population, climate change and industry are causing the Australian environment to deteriorate and alarmingly, that the rate of deterioration will only continue to increase without immediate action.

Speaking to the National Press Club following release of the report, Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek stated that “we cannot waste another minute” in reforming environmental protection legislation, attributing the findings in the report to poor management of Australia’s natural environment by the previous governments, particularly over the past decade.

Understanding the State of the Environment Report

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) provides a legislative framework for the protection and management of nationally and internationally important flora and fauna species, ecological communities and heritage places. The EPBC Act requires the federal government to commission an independent review of the state of the environment every five years. 

The purpose of the SOE Report is to guide policy, influence behaviours and assist in accessing human actions affecting the environment. Environmental systems assessed in the SOE Report include, amongst others, air quality, biodiversity, climate change, extreme events, heritage, land, marine and urban. 

The 2021 SOE Report also recognised the significance of Indigenous knowledge in properly addressing environmental deterioration and includes, for the first time, Indigenous co-authors and a new chapter dedicated to the Indigenous environment.

Key findings from the 2021 SOE Report

The key findings of the SOE 2021 Report include:

• the natural environment is deteriorating as a result of the cumulative, human-caused impacts of climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, waste, urban heat, congestion and resource extraction;
• climate change is impacting every ecosystem and at least 19 ecosystems are showing signs of actual or impending collapse;
• the number of listed species (being species listed as threatened in the EPBC Act) has increased by 8% since 2016;
• the deterioration of the natural environment is impacting the liveability of Australian urban areas, which will continue to decrease without better, sustainable urban planning;
• management of the environment is poorly coordinated across Federal and State jurisdictions;
• immediate action is required to reduce carbon emissions to improve the trajectory of our natural environment; and
• Indigenous knowledge plays a key role in conserving the natural environment and greater investment is required to expand the role of Indigenous Australians in land and sea management.

Of particular concern is the shift in the trajectory of the state of the environment since the 2016 SOE Report. The 2016 SOE Report found that, despite consistent pressures facing the environment (such as climate change, land use change, invasive species and coal mining and coal-seam gas), the state of the environment was improving.  Whereas the findings of the 2021 SOE Report is that these pressures are now causing the environment to deteriorate, and further, that the rate of deterioration will only continue to increase without immediate action.

The Federal Government response 

Speaking to the National Press Club following the release of the 2021 SOE Report, Plibersek flagged the need for sweeping legislative reform, “after a lost decade, after a decade of going backwards, we can’t waste another minute”. 

In response to the 2021 SOE Report, the Federal Government has committed to a range of actions including: 

• responding to the 2020 Graeme Samuel review of the EPBC Act, which concluded that the EPBC Act fails to protect and conserve the environment and “fundamental reform” is required to address the EPBC Act’s failings;
• introducing new Commonwealth environmental legislation, including the establishment of a national environment protection agency with enforcement powers;
• introducing new, standalone cultural heritage legislation which will be co-designed with the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance;
• expanding the “national estate” by protecting 30% of Australia’s land and oceans as conservation area by 2030; and
• delivering the $40 million promised by the previous Federal Government to Indigenous communities in the Murray Darling Basin and doubling the number of Indigenous rangers in Australia by 2030.

Despite coal and gas mining being highlighted as one of the primary causes of the increasingly rapid deterioration of the environment, Plibersek did not rule out continuing to approve of new coal and gas mining facilities, stating that stopping the production of coal and gas is not “sustainable or reasonable” in the context of Australia’s economy.

In light of the findings of the 2021 SOE Report and the Federal Government’s commitment to reform, we can expect to see increased scrutiny on actions and projects that may impact the natural environment, including energy generation projects, infrastructure and urban development.