Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability

1. OFFICIAL
WHAT MAKES A CITY SUSTAINABLE
Science,technologyandsustainable
development
RMIT UniversityVietnamLeadsSeries
ManagingSmart Citiesfora SustainableFutureForum
Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability
Dr Gillian Sparkes
Friday 22January 2021

2. OFFICIAL
Whereis Victoria?

3. OFFICIAL
Reporting on Victoria’s environment to enable practical action

4. OFFICIAL
SoE 2018 - 20 recommendations
to government across 13 themes
• Cultural Landscape Health and Management
• Climate Change Impacts
• Air
• Biodiversity
• Land
• Forests
• Fire
• Marine and Coastal Environments
• Water Resources
• Water Quality
• Waste & Resource Recovery
• Energy
• Transport

5. OFFICIAL
SoE 2018 - 19 of 20 recommendations accepted
by Victorian Government in full, part or principle
and address issues such as:
• Biodiversity decline – the status of 75% of the 35 indicators
assessed for Victoria were in decline or status unknown
• Climate Change impacts – links to energy policy and need to
improve localised climate projections e.g. for agricultural
regions, coastal areas and cities.
• Waste and resource recovery – importance of transitioning to a
circular economy model.
• Adapting to Megatrends: Enhanced technology and data sources
including earth observation, spatial and real time data.
• Applying International Frameworks: UN System of
Environmental Economic Accounts and UN Sustainable
Development Goals

6. OFFICIAL
Howwill COVID-19 shift thecourse of our vision for sustainable
cities?
Flinders Street Station
2017 v 2020

7. OFFICIAL
The UN SDGs are the “missing link” to improve our reporting
frameworks and track progress towards ecologically sustainable
development.

8. OFFICIAL
Sciencefor SustainableDevelopment
The Framework for the Victorian
SoE 2023 Report builds on the Victorian SoE
2018 Report and continues to emphasise
the role of science, data and community in
decision-making for ecologically sustainable
development (ESD). It adopts the SDGs to
express and quantify more than ever before
the concept of ESD.

9. OFFICIAL
Spatial technologies can provide more data, more
often about more things at scale
Source: US Geological Survey, GeoScience Australia.

10. OFFICIAL
Geospatial data
gives us new
information about
people, the built
environment and the
natural environment.
SOURCE: DELWP Victorian Land Cover
Time Series

11. OFFICIAL
Spatial technologies can provide unprecedented access to
intelligence about complex and remote environments
Roebuck Bay, WA is a Ramsar Wetland site and globally
significant habitat for migratory shorebirds
Source: GeoScience Australia Digital Earth Australia, Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network

12. OFFICIAL
Space, spatial and digital
technologies offer a new level of
understanding andsensemaking
alignedto the common purpose
of sustainable development and
building resilient communities.
Ord River Estuary, Western Australia
SOURCE: Digital Earth Australia

13. OFFICIAL
Linkedin.com/in/gillian-sparkes
www.ces.vic.gov.au
THANK YOU
“Moving#SDGsfromideastoaction”
DrGSparkes,VictorianSpatialShowcaseandeSummit,18November2020.