On 19 July 2022, Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment and Water, released the State of the Environment 2021 report. The Minister acknowledged the need for increased environmental funding, committed to protecting 30 per cent of land and sea, and recognised the critical role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and local communities must play in curbing the tide of our environmental decline.

Overall, the health of Australia’s environment has been assessed as poor and deteriorating due to increasing pressures from climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and resource extraction.

The key findings were:

• An 8% increase in species listed as threatened since 2016.

• Threatening processes combine to create cumulative impacts on our environment and species.

• Invasive species continue to significantly impact the environment, economy and human health, costing the country billions of dollars.

• There has been an inability to effectively manage the pressures that result in species extinctions and deteriorating ecosystem conditions. This is expected to continue if more is not done.

At the press conference, the Minister also confirmed the government’s commitment to protecting 30 per cent of Australia’s land and 30 per cent of Australia’s sea by 2030 (30 x 30). This is a welcome shift in federal government policy and comes ahead of the final Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting (COP 15) in December 22 to be held in Montreal.

Nature Foundation, through its conservation and reserve management programs, has been assiduously working away at increasing the area that we manage for conservation outcomes (added 20,736 hectares to our portfolio in the last 3 years), restoring ecosystem health at its reserves and conducting targeted threatened species management projects on a growing list of species including Yellow-footed Rock-Wallaby, Plains Mouse, Short-tailed Grasswren, Thick-billed Grasswren, Regent Parrots and Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.

The timing of this announcement aligns well with the refocusing of the Nature Foundation’s conservation efforts and strategic objective to continue the protection of high-value habitats.

We look forward to future announcements the federal government might make in the biodiversity conservation space.