Australia’s environment scored a seven-out-of-10 due to heavy rain, but the future is still grim.

It’s hard to believe that only two years ago, many communities were devastated by the floods. They also suffered extreme heat, drought, and unprecedented bushfires. Yet Our reportThe release of, today shows how Australia’s environment have dramatically recovered since then.

We use a supercomputer every year to analyze huge amounts of data from satellites and field stations. This gives us a score out ten for the condition of Australia’s environmental environment. For 2021, it is 6.9four points higher than last year.

This is due to two years of abundant rains that helped Australia’s forests and pastures recover well.

However, the rains in 2022 increased, flooding many areas of southeast Australia. You may be wondering if there is enough rain to protect our environment. What does this all mean for the bushfire seasons ahead?

Let’s first look back at 2021.

We used 15 key indicators to assess Australia’s environmental condition, such as water availability and bushfire, population pressures, vegetation health, and population pressures. These together help to determine the overall “environmental condition score.”

On Our websiteRegional scores can be found for your state or territory as well as local government areas, catchment, and electorate. Scores can be improved almost everywhere, as is the norm.

We confirmed that rainfall was close to or above average almost everywhere thanks to backtoback La Nia events, a natural phenomenon over the Pacific Ocean associated mit wetter weather.

Furthermore, parts Australia also felt the effects from a “negative Indian Ocean Dipole” during the winter and spring of 2021. It is similar to the Indian Ocean’s version La Nia that brings rainier conditions.

Here are a few of the ways that all this rain has helped Australia’s environment.

• It restored the soils that had been dry and provided better growing conditions for both managed and natural landscapes, such as farms and plantation forest.
• The drought conditions in previously drought-ravaged parts of inland northern Australia have improved by comparison to 2020.
• The river flows in Australia rose by 75% compared to 2020 figures and urban water supplies for all capital cities increased.
• The extent of the wetlands rose to their highest total extent since 2016, although it was still 9% less than the 20-year average. There were no major algal blooms and fish kills.
• Australia’s growth conditions were excellent, with grazing, cropping, and irrigation lands well above average. This was in all major regions of Australia except South Australia and inland Western Australia.

Australia also saw less population growth in 2021 due to the COVID-19 epidemic, which translated into a slower increase on our environment.

Dark clouds at the horizon

Unfortunately, there were some troubling trends that did not improve in 2021. Biodiversity continued its decline. Twelve species were identified. Declared extinct, although ten of them probably vanished more than 60 years ago. The Christmas Island pipistrelle was a smaller bat that was last seen in 2009.

Australia added 34 more species to its endangered species list. Eight of these are Kangaroo Island birds, which were severely burned in the early 2020s.

While the number and severity of threatened species varies depending on their habitat, their long-term decline does not slow down. This is largely due in part to invasive species, such as feral cats or foxes and urban development, river water extract and a more hot climate.

For example, despite the good rainfalls and increased wetland area, ResearchersWe counted fewer birds than in the four previous years in Eastern Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef provided favorable conditions for the rapid but fragile recovery of hard corals following three bleaching events in five year. A recent heatwave in northern Queensland has meant that there is now a Fourth coral bleaching event2022 is on the horizon.

Despite the relatively mild weather conditions in 2021 the specter climate change at a global level is still present.

After the pandemic, world economies recovered from it saw the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration rise by 2.5 parts per Million6% faster than in 2020, and 11% quicker than the average rate of growth since 2000.

La Nia caused more heat to go into the Pacific Ocean than into the atmosphere in 2021. Despite being 0.14 degrees cooler than 2021, it was still close to one degree above the 200020 standard and the sixth-warmest ever recorded.

Can there ever been too much rain?

Major flooding occurred in Queensland and NSW, even before the more recent deluge. The recent, record-breaking rainfalls actually added more water to soils and catchments, rivers, and dams that were already replenished in 2021.

Is Australia still a beneficiary of so much rain? It can, in large part.

Our ecosystems are generally more able to adapt and cope with wild climate swings. They shed excess water efficiently and recover quickly from damage.

Rain is a good thing in dry areas. It means more vegetation growth and more carbon dioxide. However, it will also mean more atmospheric deposition.

River flooding is an important source of life in inland Australia. It may reduce some of the floodwaters’ damage.

Although the consequences of extreme rainfall on invasive plants and animals is not well understood, they are likely to be very diverse. Invasive species may spread faster if they are less adapted for drought.

Natural vegetation that was cut for farming, mining, or housing has the greatest environmental impact. Unprotected soil absorbs less excess rainfall and can be loosened by the rain and runoff.

This erosion causes farmland to be lost, and riverbanks are eroded. The washed-out nutrients and sediment end up in rivers and seas, where they can smother marine life, and encourage the growth of crown-ofthorns starfish, which attack coral reefs.

What does this mean about bushfires?

The Bureau of Meteorology anticipatesLa Nia conditions reached their maximum and may soon normalize rainfall. The ocean heat will be released and air temperatures will quickly resume their warming trend.

Combining this with the rapid growth of vegetation, bushfire activity will likely increase next fire season. More vegetation equals more fuel for fire. These conditions can only be improved by a few hot, dry weeks.

Unfortunately, climate change, invasive species, and the pressures of plant destruction will continue to degrade agriculture and ecosystems for many decades. These impacts can be prevented by taking aggressive steps to reduce carbon emissions and ensuring that ecosystems are managed well.

Both are possible, but they require the same level of consensus and resolve as in response to Russia’s invasion and COVID-19. Our environmental crisis is not less serious.

This article has been republished from The ConversationUnder a Creative Commons License Please read the Original article.