Australia’s 2016 environment scorecard: rains return but in some cases too late

Green shoots: a mangrove in Cairns enjoys
the wet. Not all of Australia was so lucky.

After several dry years, vegetation across much of Australia received much-needed rains in 2016. But this broad pattern of improvement belies some major environmental damage in parts of the country – particularly in Tasmania, which was scorched by bushfire, the Gulf Coast and Cape York, which missed out on the rains’ return, and on the Great Barrier Reef, which suffered massive coral bleaching.

That is the conclusion of our report on Australia’s Environment in 2016, released today. It’s a summary of the state of the nation’s environmental indicators, which we compiled by analysing huge amounts of satellite imagery, ground data, and water and landscape modelling.

The report and the accompanying Australia’s Environment Explorer website summarise those data into graphs and plots for 13 environmental indicators. With most data extending back to at least the year 2000, this makes it possible to see how the environment is changing.

The overall story is one of rainfall boom after four years of bust. The national average rainfall in 2016 was again well above average, albeit not quite as much as in the bumper years 2010-11.

Read the story on The Conversation by a Professor of Water Science and Management from the Fenner School of Environment & Society at the Australian National University, Albert Van Dijk, and a research academic, also from the Fenner School of Environment & Society, David Summers - “Australia’s 2016 environment scorecard: rains return but in some cases too late.”