State of the Environment Report 2006

Australian Government

The Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts is required, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, to table a report in Parliament every five years on the State of the Environment. The intent of this report is to capture and present, in as accurate and useful a format as practicable, key information on the state of the 'environment' in terms of: its current condition; the pressures on it and the drivers of those pressures; and management initiatives in place to address environmental concerns, and the impacts of those initiatives. Listed below are the goals / aspirations mentioned in the report.

http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/

- Need to integrate environmental, economic, and social policy

- Provide data interpretation and commentary, using up-to-date, relevant national data

- Adaptation is crucial to survival

- Outcomes-based approach to regulation and incentives

- Improving institutional arrangements all parties need to recognise and accept the diverse role of landscapes

- Government reform to move away from short-term and sectoral management towards a more systematic, integrated and planned approach to monitoring  and managing environment sectors

- Managing and building a capability to manage environmental issues

- Stewardship by Indigenous Australians - governments need to build capacity of Indigenous communities

- Manage needs for future generations: Make decisions now that allow future generations the flexibility to make their own

- Consumers must bear a fairer share of the cost of environmental services.

- Government have a responsibility to improve environmental education

- Reduce waste

- Sound urban planning that takes account of environmental costs

- Strategies targeting threats to the environment to maximise conservation return

- Conservation strategies need to be integrated with other natural resource management considerations as part of regional delivery framework

- Innovation and new solutions must be found and applied in the form of new land and water use patterns that are sustainable, financially viable and acceptable to the community.

- Ecosystem restoration

- Need to integrate environmental, economic, and social policy

- Government reform to move away from short-term and sectoral management towards a more systematic, integrated and planned approach to monitoring  and managing environment sectors

- Stewardship by Indigenous Australians - governments need to build capacity of Indigenous communities

- Manage needs for future generations: Make decisions now that allow future generations the flexibility to make their own

- Government have a responsibility to improve environmental education

- Sound urban planning that takes account of environmental costs

- Conservation strategies need to be integrated with other natural resource management considerations as part of regional delivery framework

- Innovation and new solutions must be found and applied in the form of new land and water use patterns that are sustainable, financially viable and acceptable to the community.

- Outcomes-based approach to regulation and incentives

- Consumers must bear a fairer share of the cost of environmental services.

- Improving institutional arrangements all parties need to recognise and accept the diverse role of landscapes

- Reduce waste

- Ecosystem restoration

- Provide data interpretation and commentary, using up-to-date, relevant national data

- Adaptation is crucial to survival

- Managing and building a capability to manage environmental issues

- Strategies targeting threats to the environment to maximise conservation return