Tagged: FORESTS-Natural

LUCAS NZ Land Use Map 1990 2008 2012 (v018)

The Land Use Map is composed of New Zealand-wide land use classifications (12) nominally at 1 January 1990, 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2012 (known as "1990", "2008" and "2012"). These date boundaries were dictated by the First Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol. The layer can therefore be used to create either a 1990, 2008 or 2012 land use map depending on what field is symbolised.

Note: Metadata relates to LiDAR point clouds. This layer has been provided to enable users to explore coverage and capture dates of the LiDAR. To enquire about ordering the LiDAR and/or related orthophotography, please e-mail lucas[at]mfe.govt.nz.

Ministry for the Environment, Land Use Carbon Analysis System collection of swaths of LiDAR over planted forests of interest (raw and classified returns) from 2006 to 2015.

"New Zealand’s land area has been divided into 500 land environments, each defined by their unique climate, topography, and soils. The extent to which indigenous vegetation is represented in these different land environments, and how that vegetation is formally protected, is described by ‘threatened environment’ categories. These categories can be monitored to help us understand the effects of land cover change on indigenous biodiversity.

This data set relates to the "Indigenous cover and protection in land environments" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website."

Percent of land deforested in each Territorial Authority unit from 2008–2014. New Zealand’s indigenous and exotic forests absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store the carbon as biomass and in the soil. On average, more than twice as much carbon per hectare is stored in New Zealand’s mature indigenous forests than in exotic forests planted for wood production. Regenerating indigenous forests are also an important store of carbon, adding carbon every year as they grow. Total carbon stored in exotic forests will fluctuate over decades as the forests grow from seedlings to mature trees, are harvested, and replanted. Because CO2 is the major driver of climate change, forests provide important mitigation services and help New Zealand meet its climate change commitments.
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.