Under part 12 of the EPBC Act the Minister for Environment and Heritage may provide financial and other assistance for the purpose of identifying and monitoring components of biodiversity. Components of biodiversity include species, habitats, ecological communities, genes, ecosystems and ecological processes. (b) Invasive alien species (IAS)
The National Land And Water Resources Audit Council is currently developing a framework for a national weeds assessment, to be completed in 2005, in which ongoing monitoring might be a component. In Australia, at present, there is no nationally coordinated monitoring or national level monitoring for vertebrate pests. The State (provincial) Governments have their own pest management information systems. It is much more difficult (and therefore expensive) to obtain information on pest density and impact, than, for example on water quality, which is more readily quantified.
Total grazing pressure reports for rangeland environments provide a basis for development of monitoring frameworks, as appropriate, in regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) planning. Threat abatement plans may require continuous monitoring as an effective means of combating an IAS threat. http://www.nrm.gov.au/monitoring/indicators/vertebrate.html
Baseline surveys have been completed for 35 ports to determine current marine pest status. An ongoing monitoring program for 18 priority locations is being developed as part of the National System for the Prevention and Management of Marine Pest Incursions. The priority locations for ongoing monitoring have been selected on the basis of likelihood of future incursions, based on vector patterns for both introduction and translocation. A standardised monitoring approach is being developed as part of the ongoing monitoring program.
(c) Climate Change
A National Plan for climate change will be reviewed in 2007. As part of this process indicators are being developed, including on how climate change can be integrated with current monitoring and evaluation of natural resource management. (See Target 7.1 (IV) and (V) sections above).
(d) Pollution/eutrophication
Water
In Australia, monitoring of surface water quality is undertaken to provide information for a range of purposes including to:
protect public health
protect aquatic ecosystems
assess waterway condition
ensure compliance with discharge licences
State of the Environment /Audit reporting
improve scientific understanding of catchment processes, and
identify water quality relationships and responses to land management practices
Australia spends $142 - 168 M per year monitoring water quality (see NLWRA)
This is undertaken by:
Commonwealth / Regional agencies
Local and State government agencies involved in environmental monitoring and pollution regulation
Government agencies or government owned corporations providing community services (i.e. water, sewage)
Private companies or organisations whose activities may cause water pollution (e.g. mines, industrial plant operators)
Research groups including universities and the CSIRO
Community Groups such as WaterWatch
Monitoring River Health Initiative: Through the National River Health Program, the first Australia-wide assessment of the health of Australia's diverse and unique aquatic systems has been undertaken at approximately 6000 sites across Australia. The assessment was established as a partnership between river management agencies across Australia, the Australian Government, researchers and communities.
Waterwatch is a national community water quality monitoring network that encourages all Australians to become involved and active in the protection and management of their waterways and catchments.
Australian Rivers Assessment Scheme (AUSRIVAS) is a rapid prediction system used to assess the biological health of Australian rivers. The Federal Government developed AUSRIVAS under the National River Health Program (NRHP) in 1994, in response to growing concern in Australia for maintaining ecological values (see also Question 20 above).
Atmosphere
The National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) provides Australians with access to information on the types, amounts and effects of pollutants being emitted in their communities.
The National Greenhouse Gas Inventory also reports on emissions based on land use, land use change and forestry activities according to UNFCCC accounting provisions. Land use change information is interpreted from satellite data for changes in forest and other woody biomass stocks, forest and grassland conversion and abandonment of managed lands.
(e) Land use change
See Question 20 and Targets 1.1 and 4.1 (above).
The National Land and Water Resources Audit (NLWRA) compiled national statistics to examine and assess trends in land use change. Data from the annual Agricultural Census (AgStats) collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics provides information on many different agricultural products. To provide some meaningful indications of land use over 20 years, the data was aggregated to 5 larger categories that follow the Australian Land Use and Management Classification. They are: extensive grazing; sown pastures; broadacre crops; semi-intensive crops; and horticulture.
(f) Unsustainable use
Sustainable use statistics and trend information is reported in state of the environment reporting (see, for example:
Water (from SoE 2001) http://www.deh.gov.au/soe/2001/water.html#keyissues and the groundwater map below).
Forests
The National Forest Inventory collects and communicates information on Australia's forests. Australia’s State of the Forests Report (2003) fulfils the obligation in the National Forest Policy Statement to provide a forest sustainability report to the Australian public every 5 years. The National Forest Inventory collects and communicates information on Australia's forests.
Fisheries
Australia-wide, about $75 million is spent annually on fisheries data collection, research and assessment. The Australian Government publishes the results of assessments annually in Fishery Status Reports). Nationally all export fisheries management arrangements are subject to environmental performance assessments (http://www.deh.gov.au/coasts/fisheries/index.html), to ensure they are managed in an ecologically sustainable manner. Those fishery management arrangements must include actions to reduce the impact of fishing on the environment (Bycatch action plans (http://www.afma.gov.au/services/environment/baps/default.php#baps) and gear modifications).
Indicative surface water development status.
Assessments were undertaken by the state and territory water resource management agencies. There are varying approaches to the assessment of sustainable flow regimes.
Source: NLWRA (2001b)4.
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