State of the Environment

The term '''State of the Environment''' normally relates to an analysis of trends in the environment of a particular place. This analysis can encompass aspects such as water quality, air quality, land use, ecosystem health and function, along with social and cultural matters.

== Pressure-State-Response Framework ==

Human activity places pressure on many aspects of the environment. For instance, deforestation results in the invasion of weed species, habitat displacement, and, when undertaken on a large scale, adversely affects air quality and carbon dioxide sequestration.

Examples of pressures under the Pressure-State-Response ("PSR") framework include: pollutants discharged from factories, or draining into a river from the land; it could be the removal of forest from the land or over-harvesting by fishermen or hunters.<ref name="mfe.govt.nz">[http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/ser/ser1997/html/chapter1.3.html Box 1.2: The Pressure-State-Response framework], Chapter One: Introduction, The State of New Zealand’s Environment 1997, Report Ref. ME612, Ministry for the Environment, Wellington, New Zealand.</ref>

In this framework, only pressures introduced by human interaction with the environment are considered. Natural pressures such as extreme weather are only considered in the context of human-induced climate change (i.e. global warming).

A "state" is the condition of the environment at a particular time. This is assessed by measuring various aspects of the atmosphere, air, water, land and organisms.<ref name="mfe.govt.nz"/>

The European Environment Agency (EAA) has extended the pressure-state-response framework to include driving forces and impacts (see DPSIR). The EAA publishes its most comprehensive ‘state of environment’ report every five years.<ref>29 September 2025: [https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/newsroom/news/state-of-europes-environment-2025 ''State of Europe’s environment not good: threats to nature and impacts of climate change top challenges''] (press release). [https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/europe-environment-2025 ''Europe's environment 2025'']</ref>

== State of the Environment reporting == State of Environment reports have been prepared by countries such as New Zealand<ref>[http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/ser/ser1997/ The State of New Zealand’s Environment 1997] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009134153/http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/ser/ser1997/ |date=2009-10-09 }}, Report Ref. ME612, Ministry for the Environment, Wellington, New Zealand.</ref> and Australia.<ref>State of the Environment 2006 (SoE 2006), [http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/2006/ On line web page], [http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/2006/publications/report/pubs/soe-2006-report.pdf Portable document format], Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Canberra, Australia.</ref> State of the Environment reporting is also undertaken fairly extensively throughout New Zealand by territorial and regional authorities.

==See also== *''State of the World '', a series of books published by the World Watch Institute *Environmental issue

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.grida.no/soe/ The State of the Environment Gateway], GRID-Arendal/United Nations Environment Programme, Arendel, Norway, retrieved 2 February 2008.

Category:Environmental reports