"Freshwater plant and animal pests can have significant negative impacts on ecosystem health by reducing indigenous biodiversity through predation and competition, and destabilising aquatic habitats. Freshwater plant pests can cause economic losses through blocking water intakes for hydroelectricity generation, impeded drainage or irrigation. In addition,...

New Zealand has been divided into 500 land environments. These have been defined by their unique climate, topography, and soils. The extent to which indigenous vegetation is represented in these land environments, and how that vegetation is formally protected, is described by threatened environment categories. These can be monitored to understand the...

These data are the raw river water quality observations used to calculate state and trends for the period ending 2017. It contains ten parameters of water quality based on measurements made at monitored river sites: Nitrate-nitrogen Ammoniacal nitrogen Ammoniacal nitrogen (adjusted) Total nitrogen Total phosphorus Dissolved reactive phosphorus Water...

This dataset measures atmospheric concentrations of the three main greenhouse gases (GHGs) associated with human activities for the specified periods to 2022: carbon dioxide (CO2) from 1972, methane (CH4) from 1989, and nitrous oxide (N2O) from 1996. A subset of observations taken at Baring Head near Wellington was used to report on monthly averages and...

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...

This dataset summaries backpack electric fishing observations from the New Zealand Freshwater Fish Database for the period 1998 - 2018. It provides the locations and scores for Fish Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) (including sub-metric scores). Technical report available at https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/environmental-reporting/fish-index-of-biotic-...

INDEX ONLY: These footprints are the index for the 'Sentinel2 2021 Mainland NZ' mosaic. It has been provided to enable users to explore coverage and capture dates of the component imagery. To enquire about ordering the imagery itself, please e-mail lucas[at]mfe.govt.nz. ​ The imagery represented is a 10m, ten-band multispectral, cloud-minimised mosaic of...

This dataset relates to NIWA's 'seven-station' temperature series uses temperature measurements from seven 'climate stations'. 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: National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) [Technical report available at https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/environmental-reporting/fire-risk-assessment-measure-quantify-fire-risk-new-zealand and https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/environmental-reporting/ministry-environment-atmosphere-and-climate-report-2020-updated]...

"The rates of establishment (recruitment) of indigenous tree species vary across New Zealand. Changes in the state of the environment (such as from browsing pests, large-scale weather events, or climate change) may change the rates of recruitment of particular tree species. This in turn may alter forest processes. Repeated surveys of the distribution of...

Livestock numbers reflect changes in the number of farmed beef and dairy cattle, deer, and sheep across New Zealand. Livestock farming is a widespread land use in this country. It is important to monitor livestock numbers, because concentrated numbers, or large increases in numbers, can affect the indigenous biodiversity, soil health, and water quality....

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...

New Zealand’s four million km2 marine environment is diverse, with a range of coastal habitats and offshore seabed environments. There are also many marine species unique to New Zealand. Marine protected areas (MPAs) conserve or manage some of these unique habitats and species, while a range of other tools also provide marine protection. We report on the...

The New Zealand River Environment Classification (REC) organises information about the physical characteristics of New Zealand's rivers. Individual river sections are mapped according to physical factors such as climate, source of flow for the river water, topography, and geology, and catchment land cover eg, forest, pasture or urban. Sections of river...

Adapted by Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand to provide for environmental reporting transparency. Dataset used to develop the "River water quality: Escherichia coli" indicator (available at https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/river-water-quality-escherichia-coli). This dataset contains one parameter of water quality based on...

Heavy metals occur naturally in estuaries, but high concentrations suggest contamination from another source. The metals can be transported along waterways from urban environments (and, for cadmium, from farmland) and accumulate in estuarine and coastal sediments. They are toxic and accumulate in fish and shellfish. We focus on four heavy metals: lead,...

This indicator measures the rise in annual mean coastal sea level relative to land. The national mean is derived from four long-term monitoring locations across New Zealand: Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Lyttelton. We also report the trends over time, from the beginning of our records until 2018. Relative sea-level rise includes the vertical land...

The REC groups rivers and parts of river networks that share similar ecological characteristics, including physical and biological. Rivers that share the same class can be treated as similar to one another and different to rivers in other classes. The REC classification system groups rivers according to several environmental factors that strongly...

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...

New Zealand has been divided into 500 land environments. These have been defined by their unique climate, topography, and soils. The extent to which indigenous vegetation is represented in these land environments, and how that vegetation is formally protected, is described by threatened environment categories. These can be monitored to understand the...