SoE 2011 – Built Environment chapter - Overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011) presentations given by the SoE Committee members and departmental staff following the release of the SoE This material was developed to be delivered as part of an oral presentation. The full report should be referred to for understanding the context of this information. For more information please refer to: Or contact the SoE team via

New cover page Presentation – SoE 2011 Built environment chapter overview Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft

State of the Environment reporting A report on the Australian environment must be tabled in Parliament every five years No current regulations regarding scope, content or process All reports so far written by independent committees

Purpose of SoE 2011 Provide relevant and useful information on environmental issues to the public and decision- makers... … to raise awareness and support more informed environmental management decisions … … leading to more sustainable use and effective conservation of environmental assets.

State of the Environment 2011 Committee Chair Tom Hatton (Director, CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country) Members Steven Cork (research ecologist and futurist) Peter Harper (Deputy Australian Statistician) Rob Joy (School of Global Studies, Social Science & Planning, RMIT) Peter Kanowski (Fenner School of Environment & Society, ANU) Richard Mackay (heritage specialist, Godden Mackay Logan) Neil McKenzie (Chief, CSIRO Land and Water) Trevor Ward (marine and fisheries ecologist) Barbara Wienecke – ex officio (Australian Antarctic Division, DSEWPaC)

What’s new in 2011? Improved relevance to decision makers More detailed information Discussion of the major drivers of change Wide range of credible resources used in the analyses Report-card style assessments of condition, pressures and management effectiveness Discussions of current resilience and future risks Outlooks

Quality and credibility Independence – written by an independent committee with relevant expertise, tasked with advocating for ‘accurate, robust and meaningful environmental reporting and identification of policy issues, but not for any particular policy position’ Authors sought best available evidence from credible sources Extensive consultation Workshops to determine consensus in expert opinion where evidence low Transparency about quality of evidence and level of consensus Peer reviewed (47+ reviewers of chapters and supplementary materials)

SoE 2011 Products Full report – hard copy and online Summary with 17 headlines Nine theme chapters – each with key findings Report cards In-Brief – hard copy and online 50 page summary of full report Additional online materials Commissioned reports Workshop reports Additional tables and figures Peer review information

Assessment summaries in the report

Drivers chapter – context for rest of SoE How are a changing climate, population growth and economic growth creating pressures on our environment?

SoE 2011 Headlines 17 headlines in summary chapter give a high level overview of the big issues

Key Findings (in theme chapters) ‘key findings’ give an overview of more specific conclusions for each theme

What is the general state of the environment? Much of Australia is in good condition shape or improving  Wind erosion has decreased  Some major threats to vegetation cover are lessening  Water consumption has fallen considerably in recent years  Many urban air pollutants are on the decline  Use of public transport is on the rise Other parts are in poor condition or deteriorating  The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing billions of tonnes of ice a year  Soil acidification and pests and weeds are affecting large areas of the continent  Our natural and cultural heritage continues to be threatened

Drivers of environmental change The principal drivers of pressures on Australia’s environment—and its future condition—are climate variability and change, population growth and economic growth It is likely that we are already seeing the effects of climate change in Australia The Australian economy is projected to grow by 2.7% per year until 2050 Under the base scenario, Australia’s population of 22.2 million people in 2010 is projected to grow to 35.9 million by 2050 We have opportunities to decouple population and economic growth from pressure on our environment

Persistent pressures on our environment Past decisions and practices have left ongoing impacts on our environment  Introduction of feral animals and weeds  Land clearing  Pollution  Unsustainable water resource management  Intense harvest of fish stocks  Lack of integrated and supported management Our changing climate, and growing population and economy, are now confronting us with new challenges

Key findings Australia’s built environment faces many pressures and is only in a fair shape The Australian built environment consumes significant natural resources, although this may be improving Recent government initiatives aim to improve the uncoordinated management of the built environment The outlook for the built environment is mixed

State and trends Significant parts of Australia’s built environment have aspects that are considered poor  Natural resource consumption  Waste generation  Traffic congestion Photo by Taras Vyshnya

Household energy use

Household distributed water use

Municipal waste generation,

Municipal waste recovery rates,

Use of motorised transport modes in capital cities

Cost of congestion for Australian metropolitan areas

Percentage of adults using public transport as the main form of transport for work or study City Change between 1996 and 2006 a Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth Hobart Canberra Total capital cities b Other areas c Australia

Pressures affecting the built environment Population growth, economic growth and climate change lead to a number of pressures on the built environment:  Increased urban footprint  Increased traffic  Increased pollution  Increased consumption  Increased extreme weather events  Increased sea levels

Pressures affecting the built environment

Residents’ rating of state/territory government planning and managing of urban growth, 2011

Management effectiveness Recent management initiatives:  COAG criteria for capital city planning  National Urban Policy Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Photo by Ilya Genkin

Management effectiveness Current management of the built environment is only partly effective:  Good understanding of issues in development of plans  Disparate and often uncoordinated management arrangements  Investment often inadequate to deal with issues  Leads to partially effective outputs and outcomes

Resilience The resilience of the built environment to pressures is variable Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. Photo by Andrew Griffiths The built environment is generally not resilient to pressures arising from growth, particularly population growth More resilient to pressures associated with weather-related events

Risks  mega-storms (likely, catastrophic)  mega-fires (likely, major)  heatwaves (almost certain, moderate)  floods (almost certain, moderate) Increased traffic congestion (likely, major) Contamination of water supply (possible, major) Carram Downs bushfire, January 2009, Victoria. Photo by Winning Images Increased urban footprint (almost certain, major) Increased sea levels (almost certain, moderate) Weather-related incidents, e.g:

Outlook for the built environment Outlook for the built environment is mixed Increasing pressures resulting from population and economic growth and climate change pose significant challenges  Increasing urban land use  Traffic congestion  Waste generation More efficient consumption of water and energy Recent initiatives to improve urban planning should lead to greater capability to deal with emerging challenges

More information on the built environment DETAILED REPORT  Work your way through the built environment chapter of Australia State of the Environment 2011  Have a look at the other chapters (drivers, coasts and atmosphere chapters are of particular relevance) QUICK LOOK  Web site –  In Brief

Intentions and impacts of SoE Based on available information and expert opinion drawn from sources that are referenced in the report Was designed to raise awareness and assist decision-makers Highlights current issues that will require management responses to influence projected trends Provides critical information, but can support change only if decision-makers consider and use it

Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft For more information To order copies phone: or read it online: