Logo of State of the Environment 2011; Photo by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft

State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011)

State of the Environment 2011 Committee. Australia state of the environment 2011.
Independent report to the Australian Government Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.
Canberra: DSEWPaC, 2011.

8 Biodiversity

6.2 Escalating interactions among existing pressures

As well as existing pressures continuing to act, it is likely that new or more intense interactions among existing pressures will lead to new challenges.

Climate change is likely to magnify the effects of existing pressures manyfold in coming decades.140 For example, interactions of climate change with newly arrived pests and diseases also has the potential to create pressures that are far stronger and more widespread than those currently experienced in Australia.1,209 The interaction of climate change with ocean circulation, ocean acidification and processes that are reducing the level of oxygen in marine environments could drastically affect marine ecosystems.94,209

Parry Lagoons Nature Reserve, the Kimberley, Western Australia. Photo by Steve Parish