Land use Data

"Land cover describes the extent of vegetation, water bodies, built environments, and bare natural surfaces (eg gravel and rock) across New Zealand. Measuring the composition and changes in land cover can help us understand the pressures that different land uses are placing on the biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems.

This data set relates to the "Land cover" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website."

Irrigation is used to support land use, particularly in areas with low or seasonal rainfall. Irrigation can improve the productivity of land for farming activity, and support amenity or recreational land uses within urban environments.Irrigation can also alter the natural character of our landscapes (eg change dry land to greener and wetter land), and can increase nutrient (phosphorus and nitrogen) runoff and leaching into waterways.

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.

Summary report available at www.mfe.govt.nz/fresh-water/technical-guidance-and...

DATA SOURCE: Aqualinc Research Limited

[Technical report available at environment.govt.nz/publications/national-irrigate...]

Adapted by Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand to provide for environmental reporting transparency

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The spatial data covers all mainland regions of New Zealand, with the exception of Nelson, which is not believed to contain significant irrigated areas. The spatial dataset is an update of the national dataset that was first created in 2017. The current update has incorporated data from the 2019 – 2020 irrigation season.

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.

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DATA SOURCE: National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)

Adapted by Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand to provide for environmental reporting transparency

Dataset used to develop the "Far fertiliser applied" indicator [available at statisticsnz.shinyapps.io/farm_fertiliser_applied_...]

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This indicator reports industry estimates of nitrogen and phosphorus (as elements) sold in fertiliser products nationally from 1991 to 2019.

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 shapefile provides counts and densities of livestock numbers within a hexagonal grid from data derived from the Agricultural Production Survey census final results for 2017.

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.

DATA SOURCE: Statistics New Zealand Agricultural Production Survey (APS)

Adapted by Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand to provide for environmental reporting transparency

Dataset used to develop the "Agricultural and horticultural land use" indicator (available at www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/agricultural-and-hort...)

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This indicator reports on the use of land for primary production purposes, specifically agricultural land uses, such as beef and sheep farming and dairying, horticultural land uses, such as fruit and berry, and vegetable growing, and other land uses, such as forestry. We do this for the period 2002 to 2019.

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.

Dominant land uses in New Zealand include conservation (eg national and forestry parks), forestry (eg for timber resources/wood supply), urban (eg built up areas and open parkland), and agriculture and horticulture. Each land use places different pressures on the land and on receiving environments such as waterways. These pressures can be both positive (eg increased productivity) and negative (eg biodiversity loss and reduced functioning of ecosystems).

This measure reports on agricultural and horticultural land uses by region.

DATA SOURCE: Statistics New Zealand Agricultural Production Survey (APS)

Adapted by Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand to provide for environmental reporting transparency

Dataset used to develop the "Farm numbers and size" indicator [available at www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/farm-numbers-and-size]

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We present the number and area of farms in New Zealand and by region from 2002 to 2019.

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.

Livestock farming is a widespread land use in New Zealand and contributes to our economy. High livestock numbers and the distribution of livestock across land environments can affect indigenous biodiversity and soil health (eg compaction). High livestock numbers and density in some land environments can also affect water quality, as nitrogen and bacteria from urine and faeces can leach into groundwater or run off the land into rivers and lakes.

We measure changes in the numbers of farmed livestock (eg beef and dairy cattle, deer, and sheep) across regions in New Zealand.

Land use that results in a change from indigenous to exotic cover can cause biodiversity loss and reduce functioning of ecosystems. Using more land for agriculture, forestry, and urbanisation is the main driver reducing indigenous land cover across New Zealand.

Column headings:
area_ha = area of land cover measured in hectares

This dataset relates to the "Land use" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.