GOVERNMENTS across the world are paving the way for our extinction, environmentalists have warned as Australia burns and Indonesia sinks.

At least 17 people have died in the Australian wildfire crisis and more than 1,400 homes have been destroyed as around five million hectares of land burns.

The south-eastern province of New South Wales (NSW) declared its third state of emergency in two months after authorities this morning ordered tourists to leave a 155-mile zone along the picturesque south coast.

State transport minister Andrew Constance said it was the “largest mass relocation of people out of the region that we’ve ever seen.”

In Victoria, where 83 homes have burnt this week, the military was helping thousands of people who fled to the shore as a wildfire threatened their homes today in the coastal town of Mallacoota.

Food, water, fuel and medical expertise were being delivered and about 500 people were expected to be evacuated from the town by a naval ship.

Meanwhile, residents of Indonesia’s capital who had been forced into shelters by widespread flooding began returning to their homes yesterday as the waters started to recede, though the death toll from the disaster jumped to 30.

Monsoon rains and rising rivers had submerged at least 182 neighbourhoods in greater Jakarta and caused landslides in the Bogor and Depok districts on the city's outskirts.

Jakarta governor Anies Bawesdan said much of the water had receded by yesterday evening and the number of displaced people at temporary shelters had fallen to about 5,000 from 19,000.

Greenpeace Indonesia told President Joko Widodo: “The climate crisis is in front of your eyes. Don’t mess with Mother Earth.”

Time to act on the global climate crisis is running out, Extinction Rebellion warned in a new year’s day message.

“The crisis is only getting worse. At the time of writing, Australia is on fire,” the environmentalist group said, “and our precious biodiversity — the very systems that supply our food and vital resources — is collapsing.

“We are hovering at the point of no return. And yet our government continues to pave the way for our extinction.

“If they won’t do what’s necessary to safeguard our future, then we must. It is down to all of us this year to act.”