State of the Environment Tasmania 2003 is the second five yearly report completed as a legislative responsibility of the Resource Planning and Development Commission, under section 29 of the State Policies and Projects Act 1993 and the Resource Planning and Development Commission Act 1997. The legislative requirement for State of the Environment Reporting is as follows.

Preparation of State of the Environment Reports

(1) The Commission must, as soon as reasonably practicable after the commencement of the Act and after that commencement at intervals of 5 years, produce a consolidated State of the Environment Report relating to-

(a) the condition of the environment; and

(b) trends and changes in the environment; and

(c) the achievement of resource management objectives; and

(d) recommendations for future action to be taken in relation to the management of the environment.

(2) The Commission must-

(a) submit a State of the Environment Report produced by it to the Minister; and

(b) cause notice to be given, as prescribed, that the State of the Environment Report will be available to the public for inspection and purchase.

(3) The Minister must cause a State of the Environment Report to be laid on the table of each House of Parliament within the first 15 sitting days of the House after the Report is received by the Minister.

The statutory requirements in relation to SoE reporting have been met within this SoE Report as outlined in the following table.

Legislation and the SoE Report

Legislative requirement	Where addressed in this report
(a) the condition of the environment	theme chapters and issue reports
(b) trends and changes in the environment	theme chapters and issue reports
(c) the achievement of resource management objectives	theme chapters, issue reports and recommendations (what has been achieved (1998-2003)
(d) recommendations for future action to be taken in relation to the management of the environment	recommendations 2003 and recommendations 1997 (included for continuity)

SoE reporting is a process for describing, analysing and communicating information on conditions and trends in the environment and their significance. It provides a framework to account for the condition of natural resources and the environment, and to document the effect of change on health, economy and lifestyle. SoE reporting aims to communicate useable information to decision-makers to achieve better environmental outcomes and improved targeting of resources. It also aims to provide a resource for education through providing locally relevant and accessible content for secondary and tertiary levels, and for environmental care groups. The first SoE Report has been used extensively by these groups.

An improvement in the second report for Tasmania has been the inclusion of various environmental indicators to support more continuous and repeatable assessment of trends and changes in the environment. A second significant area of improvement has been to establish an on-line reporting system to improve access and capability for updating. These two significant improvements are mutually supporting.

SoE reporting is part of a national process. Reports are prepared regularly by states and territories and by the Australian Government. Five states including Tasmania are preparing SoE Reports in 2003. A significant enhancement since the first SoE Report in Tasmania has been the preparation of National State of the Environment Indicators. The current round of state/territory SoE reports is the first occasion in which these proposed indicators have been assessed and applied to reporting on trends and changes. The list of indicators that have been able to be reported on through available data are documented at the front of the report. Indicators are one of a number of key information sources that help inform the report's issues.

The principal sources of the indicators, and their methodology and rationale, are the key indicator reports published by Environment Australia (Australian Government) and the report on 'Core Environmental Indicators for Reporting on the State of the Environment' (ANZECC 2000). Further information on the process for preparing the SoE Report and the structure of the report is provided in 'Setting the Scene'.