Myanmar: A new report has warned that without greater investment in environmental monitoring, Australia’s future ecosystems are at serious risk.
According to Namibia Press Agency, Australia’s average land temperatures have risen 0.81 degrees Celsius over the past 25 years, while the number of threatened species has surged more than 50 percent. This information was detailed in the annual report by the Australian National University (ANU) in collaboration with the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, the national ecosystem observatory.
Australia’s capability to monitor environmental changes is increasingly jeopardized due to its reliance on satellite data from U.S. agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Proposed funding cuts in the U.S. pose a threat to this vital access, as highlighted by the report’s lead author, ANU professor Albert Van Dijk.
“Our own on-ground monitoring infrastructure is ageing and underfunded, and weather stations and stream gauges are being decommissioned or left unrepaired, groundwater and soil-moisture networks are patchy, and many regional areas are data deserts,” said Van Dijk. He emphasized that without robust, sovereign monitoring systems, Australia risks being unable to track environmental changes or respond effectively if international data streams are disrupted.
The report, based on 25 years of national and international data, revealed a 22 percent rise in extreme heat days, repeated occurrences of mass coral bleaching, and a 53 percent increase in threatened species since 2000. Additionally, some wildlife populations have fallen by over 60 percent due to habitat loss, invasive species, and climate stress.