Abstract: The 2011 State of the Environment (SoE) report aims to give Australians the best possible and clearest answers to three basic questions: • What is the current condition of the Australian environment? • What are the risks the Australian environment faces and are we doing enough to protect it? • Where is the Australian environment headed? Much of Australia’s environment and heritage is in good shape, or improving. Other parts are in poor condition or deteriorating. Some of the pressures on our environment arise from past decisions (or even just bad luck) that have left an ongoing legacy of impact. Our changing climate, and growing population and economy are now confronting us with new challenges.