Climate change is already having a serious effect on Victoria’s environment, a landmark state government report leaked to The Age has warned, generating more extreme weather, less rainfall and snow cover, warmer sea surface temperatures, rising sea levels and the threat of greater bushfires.

Victoria's biodiversity is rapidly deteriorating in many parts of the state, with feral animals and plants on the march while native species are losing habitat and under increasing threat of extinction.

The latest State of the Environment Report for Victoria reveals that the local environment is being degraded at the hands of humans at a greater rate than it is being conserved elsewhere.

Meanwhile, "unprecedented population growth” is adding further pressure on the natural realm.