Sustainability Indicators

National Headline Sustainability Indicators | ACT values for the National Headline Sustainability Indicators

National Headline Sustainability Indicators

The National Headline Sustainability Indicators are used to report on progress towards ecologically sustainable development for Australia. The report, published in 2002, can be found on the Department of Environment and Heritage website at www.deh.gov.au . The ‘values’ are those used in the table in this report.

The Indicators serve to address the objectives of the National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development, that is to:

enhance individual and community wellbeing and welfare by following a path of economic development that safeguards the welfare of future generations
provide for equity within and between generations
protect biological diversity and maintain essential ecological processes and life-support systems.

The National Headline Sustainability Indicators are intended to be read together because each in itself says little about sustainability from a broad perspective. This requirement is a challenge to today’s society, which is not well accustomed to dealing with issues in a holistic manner. The more the topic is discussed across all sectors of society, the greater will be our prospects of becoming a sustainable society.

ACT values for the National Headline Sustainability Indicators

Table: ACT progress towards sustainability according to the National Headline Sustainability Indicators
Values	ACT Equivalent to National Headline Sustainability Indicator*	Result for 2000–03	Desired trend	Actual trend**
Living standards and economic wellbeing	1. Real Gross State Product per capita (June 2003) (2002–03)	$45,794	Up	Up
Living standards and economic wellbeing	2. Gross household disposable income per capita	$36,831	Up	Up
Education and Skills	3. Percentage of people aged 15 and over who attained post-secondary qualifications including vocational training (2001)	46.3%	Up	Up
Healthy living	4. Life expectancy at birth (1999–2001)	78.5 male 82.9 female	Up	Up
Air quality	5. Number of occasions where concentrations of pollutants exceeded NEPM standards for ambient air quality	22	Down	Up
Air quality	6. Total NOx and particulate emissions (2002–03)	9.5 million kg	Down	Up
Economic capacity	7. Growth in Multi-factor Productivity (Gross product per combined unit of labour and capital) for latest year	No ACT data	Up	Unknown
Industry performance	8. Real GSP per capita (June 2003)	$45,794	Up	Up
Economic security	9. Average household net worth (2000)	$308,965	Up	Up
Management of water	10. Proportion of water management units with use within 70% of sustainable yield for (i) groundwater and (ii) surface water	(i) 88% (ii)97%	Up Up	Unknown Unknown
Management of forests	11. Total area of all forest type	Not applicable due to fire extent
Management of fish	12. Percentage of major Commonwealth managed harvested wild fish species classified as fully or under-fished	Not applicable to the ACT
Management of energy	13. (i) Renewable energy use as shown by Greenchoice customers as a proportion of total customers (ActewAGL only)	3.2%	Up	Up
Management of energy	(ii) Total renewable energy sold (ActewAGL only for 2002–03)	51.4 GWh	Up	Up
Management of agriculture	14. Total area of land used for agricultural production (hectares)	38,567	Variable	Down
Economic and gender equity	15. Adult female full-time average weekly earnings as a proportion of adult male full time average weekly earnings (May 2003)	82.2%	Up	Steady
Economic and education equity	16. Percentage difference in year 12 completion between average of top three deciles and total population (2001)	2%	Down	Steady
Economic and health equity	17. Percentage difference in burden of life years lost due to disability or mortality between bottom and top socio-economic quintile	No data	Down	Unknown
Locational equity	18. Percentage difference in the year 12 completion rate between urban and remote locations	Not applicable to the ACT
Biodiversity and ecological integrity	19. (i) Proportion of biogeographic subregions with greater than 30 percent of original vegetative cover	100%	Up	Steady
	(ii) Proportion of biogeographic subregions with greater than 10 percent of the subregion’s area in protected areas	100%	Up	Up
	20. (i) number of extinct, endangered and vulnerable species	24	Down	Up
	(ii) number of endangered ecological communities	2	Down	Up
Climate change	21. Total net Greenhouse gas emissions (year 2000) (Mt CO2-e)	3.980	Down	Up
Coastal and marine health	22. Estuarine condition index	Not applicable to the ACT
Freshwater health	23. Proportion of assessed sites which are with high in-stream biodiversity, based on macro-invertebrate community structure assessed using AusRivAS	8% (1 out of 13)	Up	Down
Land health	24. Proportion of assessed ACT subcatchments that are in moderate or good condition	0%	Up	Down

* Dates are given for the data reported in the results column when data do not refer to the 2000–03 reporting period.
** Trends over the last decade (1994–2004).