Australian biodiversity 'in decline'

A report card on Australia's environment has given the federal government poor marks for biodiversity, heritage and land management.

The report says there has been "limited federal leadership" in implementing a national system to tackle manage coastal marine ecosystems and biodiversity.

Biodiversity is in decline and extra research is needed.

However, wind erosion has improved, water consumption has dropped and public transport use has increased, the report says.

The 900-page independent report written by the federal government's State of the Environment Committee was released on Monday and is the fourth in a series, produced every five years.

Environment minister Tony Burke said the independent assessment had rated the government as "most improved".

He said the report will help shape environmental policy at all levels of government.

"To say the job's done, is certainly not (the case)," Mr Burke told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

"Given the amount of degradation in some places, we're never going back to the original environment that was here 200 years ago, but we can get it to a better state of health."

Management and protection of heritage was under-resourced, the report said.

There were inadequate resources to enforce restrictions on illegal land clearing.

It also singled out the main threat to indigenous sacred sites as "conscious destruction" through government-approved development.

The report warns of a skills shortage in land management.

Climate change and economic and population growth are major drivers of environmental change.

The report noted public concerns about contamination with the spread of coal seam gas mining (CSG) in Queensland and NSW.

Given that Australia had little experience with large-scale development of such resources, uncertainty surrounded the potential environmental impacts.

Their effective mitigation hampered both community confidence and environment approvals.

Mr Burke defended the government's handling of CSG, predominantly a state government issue.

"Decisions need to be (made) on a strong scientific foundation," he said, adding there was a significant gap between how the federal and states dealt with water issues in their approval process for CSG.

The federal government had shown leadership by investing $150 million to investigate CSG ground water connectivity issues.

Committee chairman Dr Tom Hatton said other good news included a decline in many urban air pollutants.

"But there's things we need to take heed of ... soil acidification, pests and weeds are affecting large areas of the continent," he said.

Mr Burke said there was a desire for stronger commonwealth leadership on the environment.

"Part of working together on environmental protection is an expectation that (states) don't take any backwards steps," he said, singling out his disagreements with the Victorian government over cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park.

Authorities were playing "catch up" on natural heritage.

Mr Burke hailed the report's findings that Australians were more water efficient, saying the days of "playing under the sprinklers" were over.

The report also looked at Antarctica's environmental health and found it showing clear signs of climate change.

It said the east Antarctic ice sheet is losing ice at about 60 billion tonnes each year.

Increased ocean acidification was affecting the Antarctic food chain.