Beyond repair: Vic environment report

ABC News Online

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/04/2437513.htm

A state government-appointed environmental expert says parts of Victoria's central and western regions are degraded beyond repair.

The warning is contained in a new report by Victoria's Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Doctor Ian McPhail.

He says Victoria's natural resources have been plundered.

"The problem with the environment is the same problem as the financial crisis, he said."

"People have attempted to make as much profit as quickly as they can from the resources in front of them. So there was no thought given to what might happen in the future, and no thought to the costs of rehabilitation."

Doctor McPhail says many of the state's rivers are in bad shape, most water basins are experiencing very poor health, and native animals are dying out.

Extract from SoE 2008

Climate change 

The potential impacts of climate change on natural 

systems may well eclipse all other causes of 

environmental degradation. Climate change has the 

potential to overwhelm our environment leading to 

the extinction of plants and animals, and threatens 

agricultural productivity which would in turn, have 

huge impacts on our social and economic wellbeing. 

The new SoE report can be downloaded here - 

http://www.ces.vic.gov.au/CES/wcmn301.nsf/childdocs/-FCB9B8E076BEBA07CA2574F100040358?open