Land Data - Page 4

The data identifies five classes of land in New Zealand at risk of erosion:

1. high landslide risk – delivery to stream
2. high landslide risk – non-delivery to steam
3. moderate earthflow risk
4. severe earthflow risk
5. gully risk

Landslide erosion is the shallow (approximately 1m) and sudden failure of soil slopes during storm rainfall. Earthflow erosion is the slow downward movement (approximately 1m/year) of wet soil slopes towards waterways. Gully erosion is massive soil erosion that begins at gully heads and expands up hillsides over decadal time scales.

Erosion can have negative consequences on land productivity, water quality (via increased sedimentation and turbidity), the natural form of the land, and infrastructure.

New Zealand experiences high rates of soil erosion. In the North Island, this is mostly due to the historical clearance of forest for agriculture (see also Estimated long-term soil erosion). In contrast, erosion in the South Island is mostly due to natural processes, primarily high rainfall and steep mountain slopes.

It is important to identify areas of land at risk of severe erosion to inform land-use decisions and help prioritise regional soil conservation work.

More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.

Many of New Zealand’s indigenous plants and animals are endemic – found nowhere else in the world – and are our national taonga (treasure). New Zealand species make a significant contribution to global biodiversity, which is important for ecosystem processes and resilience, mahinga kai (traditional food gathering), and culture and recreation.

Conservation status is a representation of the threat classification of resident indigenous plant and animal species. The Department of Conservation (DOC) developed the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) to provide a national system that is similar to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List.

We report on four conservation status categories: threatened, at risk, not threatened, and data deficient. Conservation status categories ‘threatened’ and ‘at risk’ are divided into subcategories that provide more information on the species’ threat of extinction classification (adapted from Townsend et al, 2008). Species are classified as ‘data deficient’ if we lack information on the species, making threat classification assessment not possible.

More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.

Industry estimates of fertiliser nutrient consumption in New Zealand 1990–2015.

More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.

The data shows tonnes of nitrogen applied calculated from the application of urea, diammonium phosphate (DAP), and ammonium sulphate (SOA) in New Zealand.

More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.

Land (whenua) is taonga tuku iho (cultural property, heritage) and of special importance to Māori. As the whakapūmautanga (legacy for the future), whenua provides for cultivation and storage of traditional foods and plants – for customary use and mahinga kai, and helps sustain each generation.

We report only on the available data we have, which cover a subset of Māori land used for primary production activities. We report on the number of livestock on maori-owned farms for main livestock types (eg farmed beef and dairy cattle, sheep, and deer) for the years 2006-16.