The State of the Environment (SoE) Report covers the Coffs Harbour Local Government area and has been prepared by Council both as a community information document and as a management tool for Council.   

The aim of annual SoE Reports is to document and measure the continued progress of both Council and our local community through better environmental management towards ecological sustainability.  The report aims to help further progress towards this goal by providing sound information as a basis for future environmental management. 

The report also has the role of assessing declining environmental conditions where they occur, which provides an opportunity to ensure that measures are devised and implemented to arrest these trends and to improve conditions.

2010 Supplementary State of the Environment Report

This supplementary SoE Report should be read in conjunction with the 2009 Comprehensive SoE Report as well as the 2009/2012 Management Plan. This SoE is an important reference for key decision-making by Council and the community.

The Comprehensive SoE Report 2009 focuses on the 2008-09 period. It provides an update of information in the comprehensive SoE Report of 2004 and the supplementary SoE Report 2008. 

Comprehensive reports differ from supplementary SoE reports in terms of their depth and scope.  They are required to identify and apply appropriate indicators for each environmental sector and use appropriate models in the interpretation and presentation of data.  For example, a model for reporting on various environmental sectors would consider:

• the pressure that human activities put on their immediate environment and their natural surroundings;
• the current and projected state of the environment; and,
• the response of councils, government agencies, industry and communities to the pressures on, and state of, the environment.
  
  

Comprehensive SoE reports must present information that updates previous equivalent information and provides a 'benchmark' for future reporting that assists us to measure progress.  Comprehensive SoE reports must also identify any gaps in relevant information and indicate the way in which the missing information might be obtained.

State of the Environment Report 2009 - Comprehensive (3.5MB)
State of the Environment Report 2010 - Supplementary (549KB)