The Victoria: State of the Environment (SoE) 2013 is intended to inform the Victorian community about the health of the natural environment and influence government to achieve environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability.

The SoE 2013 contains two main parts and an epilogue.

Part A Trends and Analysis

Trends and Analysis of key indicators in the following categories to:

• Climate change and air quality
• Biodiversity and land
• Inland waters
• Marine and coastal environments
• Human settlements.

The reported Indicators inform us of the current condition and trends apparent for Victoria’s environment, and also provide insight into the effectiveness of environmental management policies and activities.

Part B Goals and Recommendations

Goals for protecting and enhancing Victoria’s ecosystems and our community’s continued prosperity. The goals are:

• Resilient ecosystems
• Sustainable natural resources
• Sustainable energy
• Sustainable communities
• Understanding the environment.

Recommendations for action are detailed across the goals in Part B. The recommendations are presented along with attributes for implementation to guide community discussion and the Victorian Government’s consideration of the actions proposed.

Epilogue

The SoE 2013 concludes with an Epilogue in which considers how we might better measure well-being to ensure we capture the environmental, economic and social constituents of an equitable and prosperous society and build community resilience.