A damning new report has found Victoria’s ecosystems and threatened species are in a far more dire situation now than they were five years ago.
The Victorian State of the Environment (SOE) Report 2023 – which is released every five years – was tabled in Parliament today, and revealed the vast majority of indicators related to the health of ecosystems, biodiversity, climate change and air pollution were poor and deteriorating.
It found that biodiversity and climate change indicators were particularly bad, with more than 75% of biodiversity indicators (32 of the 42) deteriorating or unclear, and 73% of climate change health measures (11 out of 15) also deteriorating or unclear. Only 1 out of 57 were classed as good (which related to the number of Victorians taking action to protect nature).
This means that everything from the health impacts of air pollution, to the health of our rivers, and the fate of our 2,000 threatened species, is going backwards.
Deputy Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell, said Victorians cared about nature deeply, yet as a result of the Labor Government’s inaction, the health of our environment was continuing to take a nosedive year on year.
Labor cut biodiversity program funding 25% in the most recent state budget.
The Greens say Labor needs to stop short-changing the state’s precious wildlife and invest in the protection of our threatened species and critical ecosystems, which we ultimately rely on for air, food and water.
Since 2014, the number of species and ecosystems on the brink of extinction has risen from 687 to 2,000, yet environment and biodiversity funding was cut by 25% in this year’s Victorian State Budget.
This follows a 2021 VAGO report which was scathing in its findings that there are significant funding shortfalls for biodiversity programs in Victoria.
It was also revealed during PAEC recently that Victoria’s environment department had only completed 100 action plans for threatened species, with 1,500 still yet to be completed.
As stated by Deputy Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell MP:
“This report is a terrifying wake-up-call. It shows Victoria’s ecosystems and threatened species are in a dire situation, and the Labor Government in Victoria has done very little about it.
“We all rely on a healthy environment for our air, water and food – but Labor’s huge cuts to environment programs means that almost every indicator is going backwards, putting our health at risk and sending threatened species towards extinction.
“Labor needs to stop slashing funding to biodiversity and environment programs, and instead do something to stop this extinction crisis.”
