1. www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE – Presentation to Pacific Environment Forum Presented at the September 2012 Pacific Environment Forum. 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: http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/index.html Or contact the SoE team via email: soe@environment.gov.au

2. www.environment.gov.au/soe New cover page Pacific Environment Forum, 3 September 2012 Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft

3. www.environment.gov.au/soe SoE 2011 Products Web site: www.environment.gov.au/soe Full Report In Brief Supplementary Products

4. www.environment.gov.au/soe Key project participants Minister for Environment Executive panel Committee (authors) Project team Reviewers Other service providers

5. www.environment.gov.au/soe State of the Environment 2011 Committee Chair Tom Hatton (Group Executive, Energy, CSIRO) 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 (Formerly Chief, CSIRO Land and Water) Trevor Ward (marine and fisheries ecologist) Barbara Wienecke – ex officio (Australian Antarctic Division, DSEWPAC)

6. www.environment.gov.au/soe State of the Environment reporting The Minister for Environment must table a report on the state of the environment every five years No current regulations regarding scope, content or process All reports so far written by independent committees

7. www.environment.gov.au/soe Aims of SoE 2011 Meet legislative requirements Provide relevant, credible and useful information Promote and inform environmental debate Increase awareness of environmental issues Support evidence-based environmental management decisions that lead to more sustainable use and effective conservation of our environmental resources Identify ways to strengthen the environmental evidence base for reporting and decisions in the future

8. www.environment.gov.au/soe How can we make it as useful as possible? Who are our readers? What are their needs and priorities? What is the story that needs to be to be told? How can that information be presented in a way that is useful? How can we make it credible and transparent? How can we present information in ways that accommodate people’s different styles, needs and desire for detail? How can we prepare for better reporting in the future?

9. www.environment.gov.au/soe Who are our readers? Environmental decision-makers  Government at a local, regional and national level  NGOs, lobby groups  Conservation and grass roots environmental groups  Land owners and managers, eg farmers, irrigators and rural regional business, Indigenous communities Institutions that generate and invest in environmental information Educators and students Australian community

10. www.environment.gov.au/soe How can we improve the relevance of the report? Evaluation of past reports, what people did and didn’t like Consultation to determine what issues people want included Review of other projects and how have our audiences responded to them  GBR Outlook report 2009  Australian jurisdictional SoE reports  Environmental reporting internationally  Specialists in areas like resilience and management effectiveness

11. www.environment.gov.au/soe

13. Assessment summaries

14. www.environment.gov.au/soe Example assessment summary – state and trends

15. www.environment.gov.au/soe Example assessment summary – state and trends

16. www.environment.gov.au/soe Example assessment summary – management effectiveness

17. www.environment.gov.au/soe 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)

18. www.environment.gov.au/soe Improving accessibility Visually appealing with different layers of summarising information...

19. www.environment.gov.au/soe Headlines (in summary chapter) 17 headlines in summary chapter give a high level overview of the big issues

20. www.environment.gov.au/soe Key Findings (in theme chapters) ‘key findings’ give an overview of more specific conclusions for each theme

21. www.environment.gov.au/soe Information ‘At a Glance’ ‘At a glance’ summaries for every section

22. www.environment.gov.au/soe Assessment summaries Assessment summaries provide quick access to information

23. www.environment.gov.au/soe And for those who want it…. Much more detailed information within the report

24. www.environment.gov.au/soe Basic process Appoint c’ttee Develop approach Outline content Draft chapters and edit (ongoing) Check facts Print, prepare online material Support impact Evaluate Launch & promote Design Commission additional info Identify needs Get data ID gaps Peer review

25. www.environment.gov.au/soe Reader survey confirms people are finding the new features useful

26. www.environment.gov.au/soe Reader survey confirms people are largely using the report for the purposes we expected

27. www.environment.gov.au/soe How is the report being used? Improve or validate understanding of environmental issues and their context Demonstrate the significance of issues As a credible reference to support and justify policy directions Particular findings are stirring political debate and causing government action The Minister and department is incorporating findings from the report into strategic planning Research planning and prioritisation, including supporting applications for funding Model for reporting in other contexts As an educational resource

28. www.environment.gov.au/soe Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft For more information email soe@environment.gov.au or visit www.environment.gov.au/soe