Society and economy have a complex relationship with the environment. The environment contributes to the production of goods and services that support people's lifestyles. Australia's growing economy, and its increasing use of energy and other resources, has brought prosperity and wellbeing to many Australians. However, the environment also sustains damage through these activities.
This chapter presents a range of statistics that may be used to build up a picture of the state of Australia's environment. It draws on output from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) household and business surveys as well as data from a number of other agencies, including the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, the Environment Protection and Heritage Council, the National Pollution Inventory, and the Australian Government Departments of: Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities; and Climate Change.
Statistics contained in the Year Book are the most recent available at the time of preparation. In many cases, the ABS website and the websites of other organisations provide access to more recent data. Each Year Book table or graph and the bibliography at the end of each chapter provides hyperlinks to the most up to date data release where available.
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This page first published 24 May 2012, last updated 11 November 2015
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INTRODUCTION
Society and economy have a complex relationship with the environment. The environment contributes to the production of goods and services that support people's lifestyles. Australia's growing economy, and its increasing use of energy and other resources, has brought prosperity and wellbeing to many Australians. However, the environment also sustains damage through these activities.
This chapter presents a range of statistics that may be used to build up a picture of the state of Australia's environment. It draws on output from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) household and business surveys as well as data from a number of other agencies, including the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, the Environment Protection and Heritage Council, the National Pollution Inventory, and the Australian Government Departments of: Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities; and Climate Change.
This chapter contains two special articles, Building a land account for Australia and Land management practices in the Great Barrier Reef catchment area.
Related information can be found in chapters 1 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE, 16 AGRICULTURE. 17 FORESTRY AND FISHING, 19 ENERGY, 22 SERVICE INDUSTRIES and 24 TRANSPORT.