Crisis in State of the Environment Report
The NSW Government has today tabled the 2024 State of the Environment Report, just under eight months after it was due to be released. The delayed report has confirmed that the natural systems in NSW that we all rely on are continuing to decline, and comes just one day after the Government revealed they underspent on environment protection by $446 million in the last year.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment and climate change said “This report paints a catastrophic picture of just how badly the Minns Labor Government is performing when it comes to our precious, life-giving and supporting environment,”
“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 5% increase in the number of animal species threatened with extinction. In addition to this report, the Government has categorically failed to act on their election commitment to protect and create the Great Koala National Park, with logging in those forests still occurring at higher rates than under the last Government,”
“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,”
“Our regions and agricultural districts are in serious decline on almost all measures too, significant losses to woody and non-woody native vegetation, increasing rates of soil acidification, and plummeting levels of organic carbon in our soil. These indicators will have serious consequences for our ability to grow food and fibre across NSW, along with the dire consequences for the natural world,”
“We should all be furious at the NSW Government underspending on environment protection by $446 million. It’s a clear sign that they are just not taking this crisis seriously. They have spent the lowest proportion on environment protection of any Government since at least 2016, and the results today in this report show what their disregard has bought,”
“Of the 70 key indicators covered in this report, just 7 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,”
“This must be a wake up call for Premier Chris Minns and his whole Government. If they do not commit to turning this around, with resources commensurate with that target, we will continue to see a decline in our own environment, and the entire natural world in NSW. I have come to realise this city based, city focussed Labor Party is not getting it. When our Country suffers, we all suffer,” Ms Higginson said.