The Marine chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment (SoE) report incorporates multiple expert templates developed from streams of marine data. This metadata record describes the Case Study "Assessing cumulative effects and risks".
A PDF of the full Case Study, including figures and tables (where provided) is downloadable in the "On-line Resources" section of this record as "CASE STUDY 2021 – Assessing cumulative effects and risks"
DESCRIPTION OF THE CASE STUDY
The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) calls for consideration of direct, indirect and offsite impacts on biodiversity. Upstream, downstream and facilitated impacts are specifically defined in the Significant Impact Guidelines and the act allows for broad-scale strategic assessments . However, the EPBC Act does not explicitly address cumulative effects (Dales, 2011; Dunstan et al., 2020; Samuel, 2020). Multiple stressors impacting on multiple ecological values requires an ecosystem-based approach (Levin et al., 2009). This will require a systemic and integrated assessment of all pressures on marine and coastal systems (HLPO, 2020).
[see attached Case Study for more]
DATA STREAM(S) USED IN CASE STUDY
Synthesis of literature published in the last 5 years and expert knowledge of the case study authors.