REPORT CARD ON THE HEALTH OF AUSTRALIA’S ENVIRONMENT: “Last year was neither an outlier nor the ‘new normal’ – it will get worse,” says Albert Van Dijk, Professor of Water and Landscape Dynamics, Australian National University
“From the long list of environmental indicators we report on, we use seven to calculate an Environmental Condition Score (ECS) for each region, as well as nationally. These seven indicators – high temperatures, river flows, wetlands, soil health, vegetation condition, growth conditions and tree cover – are chosen because they allow a comparison against previous years. In Australia’s dry environment, they tend to move up and down together, which gives the score more robustness,” stated Albert Van Dijk.
