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Biodiversity richness	1		[38th of 53]
Carbon efficiency	2.07 CO2 emissions/$ GDP		[33rd of 141]
DEFINITION: Carbon economic efficiency (CO2 emissions per dollar GDP) Units: Metric Tons/US Dollar GDP
CO2 Emissions	332,377		[14th of 178]
DEFINITION: CO2: Total Emissions (excluding land-use) Units: thousand metric tonnes of carbon dioxide
SOURCE: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
Coral reefs > Area	48,960 sq km		[1st of 28]
DEFINITION: Reef areas have been rounded to the nearest 10 sq km, while for those countries with small areas of coral reefs, the terms less than 100, less than 50 and less than 10 sq km have been used. There are 80 countries and geographical locations with coral ree
SOURCE: World Resources Institute. 2003. Carbon Emissions from energy use and cement manufacturing, 1850 to 2000. Available on-line through the Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) at Washington, DC: World Resources Institute
Ecological footprint	8.49		[7th of 141]
DEFINITION: Ecological footprint per capita Units: Hectares per Person
SOURCE: World Atlas of Coral Reefs accessible via United Nations Environment Program
Endangered species protection	100%		[14th of 141]
DEFINITION: Percent of CITES reporting requirements met Units: Percent of Requirements Met Units: Countries that have not ratified the CITES convention are recorded as having zero percent of their requirements met.
SOURCE: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Living Planet Report 2000, Gland, Switzerland: 2000, and Redefining Progress.
Forest area > % of land area	21.31 % of land area		[120th of 195]
DEFINITION: Forest area is land under natural or planted stands of trees, whether productive or not.		View time series
SOURCE: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Report on National Reports Required Under Article VIII, Paragraph 7(a), of the Convention, Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, Gigiri, Kenya, April 2000
Municipal waste generation	690 kgs per person per year		[2nd of 17]
DEFINITION: Kilograms of municipal waste generated per year (2000).
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Pollution > Carbon dioxide 1999	94,008		[13th of 199]
DEFINITION: 1999 total CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring. Emissions are expressed in thousand metric tons of carbon (not CO2).
SOURCE: OECD Environmental Data Compendium: 2002
Pollution > Carbon Dioxide from fossil fuels 2000	97		[15th of 25]
DEFINITION: Includes carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption of petroleum, natural gas, and coal, and the flaring of natural gas.
SOURCE: Gregg Marland, Tom Boden, and Bob Andres, University of North Dakota, via net publication
Pollution > Carbon Dioxide per capita	17		[3rd of 29]
DEFINITION: Tons of Carbon Dioxide produced per capita in 1998 or latest available year. Carbon dioxide from energy use only. Excludes international marine bunkers.
SOURCE: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Annual, 2002, and International Energy Outlook, 2001
Pollution > Municipal Waste per capita	690		[2nd of 29]
DEFINITION: Municipal waste is that which is collected and treated by or for municipalities: household waste and bulky waste as well as comparable waste from small communities or industrial enterprises; and market and garden residue.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France, OECD Environmental Data Compendium
Protected area	7		[59th of 147]
DEFINITION: Environmentally protected area (1997)
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France, OECD Environmental Data Compendium
SO2 emissions per populated area	2,840 thousand metric tons/squ		[18th of 141]
DEFINITION: SO2 emissions per populated land area Units: 1000 Metric Tons/Sq. Km. of Populated Land Area Units: We obtained the total emissions for each country by summarizing emissions data, originally available as a grid map with 1 degree x 1 degree cells. Air pollution is generally greatest in densely populated areas. To take this into account, we used the Gridded Population of the World dataset available from CIESIN and calculated the total land area in each country inhabited with a population density of greater than 5 persons per sq. km. We then used this land area as a denominator for the emissions data.
SOURCE: Jacaranda Atlas
Threatened species	483		[2nd of 158]
DEFINITION: Number of Threatened Species (1990-99)
SOURCE: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, Data Version 1.1, B1Illustrative Marker Scenario with model IMAGE
Threatened species > Mammal	58		[6th of 160]
DEFINITION: Number of threatened mammal species (1997)
SOURCE: United Nations World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook
Waste generation	400 kgs per person per year		[7th of 16]
DEFINITION: Kilograms of waste generated per person per year ( 2000).
SOURCE: Jacaranda Atlas
Water > Availability	27.81 thousand cubic metres		[19th of 141]
DEFINITION: Water availability per capita (1961-1990 (avg.)) Units: Thousands Cubic Meters/Person Units: This variable measures internal renewable water (average annual surface runoff and groundwater recharge generated from endogenous precipitation)
SOURCE: OECD Environmental Data Compendium: 2002
Water pollution, wood industry > % of total BOD emissions	5.32 %		[8th of 114]
DEFINITION: Industry shares of emissions of organic water pollutants refer to emissions from manufacturing activities as defined by two-digit divisions of the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC), revision 2: wood (33). Emissions of organic water pollutants are measured by biochemical oxygen demand, which refers to the amount of oxygen that bacteria in water will consume in breaking down waste. This is a standard water-treatment test for the presence of organic pollutants.		View time series
SOURCE: Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, WaterGAP 2.1B, 2001 via ciesin.org
Wildness	74%		[6th of 141]
DEFINITION: Percent of land area having very low anthropogenic impact Units: Percent of Land Area Units: Global grids for population (GPW), land use (USGS AVHRR based classification from EROS data center), VMAP roads, VMAP railways, VMAP coastlines, VMAP major rivers and the stable lights data were all scored for "wildness". The scores were aggregated and normalized.
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database

Interesting facts on Australian Environment

• The total area of Australia’s coral reefs is greater than the total area of any of 130 individual countries, including Slovakia, the Dominican Republic, Kuwait, Singapore, and Rwanda.
• There are more known reptile species in Australia than in all other listed countries combined.

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