Land fragmentation, 2002 - 2019

DATA SOURCE: Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research

[Technical report available at environment.govt.nz/publications/land-fragmentatio...]

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

Dataset used to develop the "Land fragmentation" indicator [available at www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/land-fragmentation]

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This indicator measures changes in total highly productive land (HPL) area and the distribution of this land area across different land parcel size classes, since 2002, with a particular interest in the fragmentation or subdivision of these land parcels. We define HPL by land use capability (LUC), and includes classes 1, 2, and 3 (land highly suitable for growing a range of crops). We assess this fragmentation against two potential impacts: land that cannot be used or is restricted from use as farmland because of its new residential or urban land use (‘land restricted from use as farmland’) and that which may still be able to be used for growing/production (‘land potentially available for use as farmland’).

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 technical report for this dataset is available at environment.govt.nz/publications/land-fragmentatio...