Report paints ‘catastrophic picture’ of environment

THE NSW Government tabled the 2024 State of the Environment Report last week.

Compiled by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), the report is published every three years.

According to EPA CEO Tony Chappel, the 2024 report indicates that climate change is already a major factor impacting many environmental trends.

“In 2021-22, greenhouse gas emissions in NSW were 111 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, which is 27 percent lower than the annual rate back in 2005,” Mr Chappel said.

The report found that sea levels rose by 12cm between 1991 and 2021, and may rise by up to one metre by the end of the 21st century.

Severe fire weather days and hot days (35°C or more) are also projected to increase.

“Average temperatures across the state have already risen 1.4 °C since 1910 and sea surface temperatures in the Sydney area have increased by about 0.14 0.2°C per decade since the 1950s,” Mr Chappel said.

Native vegetation cover has also declined over the past three years.

“The ability of remaining habitats in NSW to support native plants, animals and ecosystems has dropped to 29 percent of their original capacity since pre-industrialisation,” Mr Chappel said.

Additionally the number of threatened species listings in NSW has increased by 36 since December 2020.

In 2024, more than 600 plant species and 300 animal species in NSW are threatened and risk extinction.

The report found NSW air quality however meets national standards most of the time.

“In the past three years air quality has been negatively affected during extreme weather events, such as storms and bushfires,” Mr Chappel said.

Most soils in NSW are in a moderate condition, according to the report, although much of the state’s agricultural land is becoming slightly more acidic, with soil pH changing by at least 0.15 from 2006-20.

Good rainfall in the past three years has helped improve water quality in some areas, but may also have been associated with significant fish kill events during that time.

Coastal vegetation and habitats such as saltmarsh, mangroves and seagrass continue to be threatened by development and climate change, Mr Chappel said.

Invasive species continue to exert pressure on native plants and animals.

“New threats, such as fire ants, will continue to pose a significant biodiversity risk if not eradicated,” he said.

Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment and climate change Sue Higginson, said the report paints a “catastrophic picture”.

“The biodiversity crisis has continued unabated in NSW, despite Premier Chris Minns promising to halt extinction in NSW, with 36 new species added to the threatened species list since 2020 and a shocking five percent increase in the number of animal species threatened with extinction.

“With average temperatures in NSW already 1.4 degrees celsius above earliest records, we can assume with confidence that this means our state is already living beyond the 1.5 degrees that was legislated as a target less than two years ago. “The revelations that sea levels have risen by 12 centimetres in 30 years pales compared to the existential threat posed by the likely additional one metre sea level rise predicted by the report between now and the end of the century.”

Ms Higginson said regional NSW and agricultural districts are in “serious decline” on almost all measures, noting “significant losses to woody and non-woody native vegetation, increasing rates of soil acidification, and plummeting levels of organic carbon in our soil”.

“Of the 70 key indicators covered in this report, just seven of them show any improvement.

“The number of indicators that are going backwards is more than three times higher with close to double remaining unknown.”