South Australia
South Australia is Australia's driest state with about one-third of its land area having no significant economic use and more than one-half devoted to pastoralism. A significant area is managed by Indigenous people and mining activity is increasing.
The area of land held under Heritage Agreements has increased 12.6 per cent since 1998. South Australia has Ramsar and nationally-important wetlands, threatened and critically-endangered species, migratory birds and critical marine habitats. The number of plants, animals and ecological communities at risk in South Australia is increasing. Recovery efforts for threatened species have increased significantly but more is needed to minimise the potential for species loss. Across the state, rabbit, fox and feral goat numbers have declined but feral camels and deer are increasing, as are terrestrial weeds.
The health of rivers, streams and wetlands is variable but generally in decline, due to increasing extraction and drainage for industrial, domestic and agricultural purposes. Groundwater quality is declining in some regions, particularly on the Northern Adelaide Plains and in parts of the South East, with the major threat being salinity. While increasing development along the coastline has reduced the area of seagrass and mangroves, marine protected areas have increased in size and the level of pollutants discharged into the Gulf St Vincent is decreasing. River Murray water quality remains moderate to poor and, without remedial action, salinity levels are predicted to increase significantly over the next 50 years. Lakes Victoria and Albert and the Coorong are suffering environmentally due to drought conditions across the Murray-Darling Basin.
Dryland salinity is stable but increasing in the long-term and the extent of acid soils is increasing. Soil loss to erosion is slowly declining but unsustainable soil loss still occurs during extreme water events.
- Alinytjara Wilurara
- Eyre Peninsula
- Kangaroo Island
- Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges
- South Australian Murray Darling Basin
- Northern and Yorke
- South Australian Arid Lands
- South East
Region summaries
- Australian Capital Territory
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Victoria
- Western Australia
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