Wetter-than-usual weather has gifted Australia’s environment four years of good conditions but the luck is unlikely to last.
Habitat destruction, invasive species and ongoing climate change are still wreaking havoc despite relatively benign weather conditions in most areas granting ecosystems a reprieve in 2024.
The annual scorecard prepared by the Australian National University assesses soil health, river flows, average temperatures, threatened species numbers and other indicators.
In 2024, the environment notched a 7.7 out of 10 on the national scale.
Scores between 6.5 and 8.5 have been achieved in the past three years, in stark contrast to the 0.4 logged in 2019 during the disastrous Black Summer bushfires.
ANU climate, water and ecosystem expert Albert van Dijk warned the headline figure should be interpreted with caution.
An overall score for the environment had similar shortcomings as headline economic measures that miss variations across region and industry, he explained.
A look under the hood reveals land and ocean temperatures set new extremes in 2024 and 41 species were added to the threatened species list.
Yet more rainfall than was typical fed into higher-than-average plant growth, improved river flows and better soil moisture, as well as less biomass lost to bushfires despite major blazes in Victoria in December.
“Because Australia is so dependent on water and our environment is so dependent on water, they tend to go up and down together,” Professor van Dijk told AAP.
National rainfall was 18 per cent above average.
“You can say we’ve been lucky for four years in a row … it doesn’t mean that we don’t have problems any more.”
He urged policymakers to act fast to cut emissions and protect nature, including making good on commitment to set up a national Environmental Protection Agency.
Higher temperatures caused by burning fossil fuels and other sources of greenhouse gas emissions are linked to wetter weather in Australia, he said, with warmer seawater typically leading to more rain.
Last year was confirmed the hottest year on record globally by the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation in its flagship State of the Global Climate report on Wednesday.
The agency identified 2024 as likely the first calendar year at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, however the Paris Agreement has not yet been formally breached given the threshold relies on long-term average temperatures.
Australia is suffering from more costly and damaging weather disasters due to global temperatures rise, as highlighted in a report on Tropical Cyclone Alfred from the Climate Council.
Alfred finally made landfall east of Brisbane as a tropical low rather than as the category two system feared earlier but still brought with it torrential rain, intense winds and coast-battering waves.
Cyclone movements are notoriously hard to predict but the report says climate change is causing slower-moving windstorms that fuel more rain and intensify damage to communities.
In addition, cyclones are drifting further south and to the coast where more people live.