Key Points
- The report found some 6.1 million hectares of primary forest has been cleared since 1990.
- 377 species of plants and animals have been declared "threatened" in the past 10 years.
A long-awaited government report details Australia's "utter failure" to protect natural environments and threatened species, scientists say.
is a mandatory assessment prepared by a panel of independent scientists every five years.
Federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek said the latest findings were "shocking", and will use a National Press Club address on Tuesday to explain how Labor will respond.
Speaking to the ABC on Tuesday, Ms Plibersek flagged an overhaul of regulation and more investment in order to protect the environment.
"The overall story is the environment is in a bad state and it's declining," she said.
"If we don't do something to change what we're doing now, we're going to continue to see the decline."
She branded the report as "shocking" as it details "abrupt" changes in ecological systems over the last five years with climate change adding a devastating new layer to the accumulation of other threats.
The latest report makes for sobering reading. It found some 6.1 million hectares of primary forest has been cleared since 1990, and that 377 species of plants and animals have been declared "threatened" in the past 10 years.
The Black Summer bushfires of 2019 and 2020 scorched more than 8 million hectares of native vegetation, the report found, and killed or displaced as many as 3 billion animals.
Mass coral bleaching events are likely to continue threatening the Great Barrier Reef. Source: AAP / AP
"This authoritative and long-overdue report confirms in rigorous detail the grim reality of Australia’s utter failure of environmental and conservation stewardship," he said.
"Bushfires devastating wildlife populations, extensive, repeated coral bleaching events, ecosystems collapsing across the continent…these events are all symptomatic of governments and society not acting on the science."
The need to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions was one of the overarching themes running through the report.
Professor Chennupati Jagadish, the president of the Australian Academy of Science, said Australia's environmental outlook was "grim".
"To protect our environment Australia must revisit its emission reduction commitments and work with other countries to provide the leadership and collaboration required to place Australia and the world on a safer climate trajectory."
The report found ocean acidification, which is driven by elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, was likely to continue impacting corals on the Great Barrier Reef.
Marine scientist Alexandra Campbell said the report's findings were alarming.
"We need to take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and switch to renewable energy," Dr Campbell said.
The previous Coalition government first received the report in December last year, but declined to release it before the election.
