Land
Two classification systems for New Zealand’s land environment have been developed and are used together for state of the environment reporting. The Land Cover Database series 1 and 2 identifies land cover (what is growing on the ground or what feature covers the ground), whereas Land Environments of New Zealand uses 15 climate, landform, and soil factors that are considered likely to influence the distribution of animal or plant species.
Land Cover Database (LCDB)
The Land Cover Database series 1 and 2 (LCDB 1 & 2) use existing satellite images of New Zealand from 1996/1997 and 2001/2002, and translate them into information describing different types of land cover that exist on the ground (for example, pastures, lakes, forests, or concrete).
Both database series classified land cover into a number of classes, which are grouped into the following nine major land cover classes for reporting:
- Exotic forest
- Exotic shrubland
- Native forest
- Native vegetation
- Other native land cover
- Primarily horticulture
- High-producing exotic grassland
- Low-producing exotic grassland
- Artificial surfaces.
These land cover classes are then used as a baseline tool for analysis, monitoring and reporting. The LCDB is used to report on the native land cover indicator for biodiversity and the land cover, land use and erosion risk indicators for land.
Example: Land cover in the North Island in 2002 (LCDB 2)
Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ)
The Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ) classification maps areas of the New Zealand landscape that have a similar environmental character. It is used to identify areas that are similar, regardless of where they occur (that is, which areas are not necessarily the same in all respects, but are likely to contain similar species, and have similar biological interactions and processes).
This classification differs from the Land Cover Database (LCDB) series 1 and 2. The LCDB series simply identify land cover, whereas Land Environments of New Zealand uses 15 climate, landform, and soil factors that are considered likely to influence the distribution of animal or plant species. Based on these factors, land environments can be used as a surrogate for ecosystems.
Land Environments of New Zealand can be used at four levels of detail to map 20, 100, 200, or 500 land environments. The higher levels provide greater detail by showing more land environments. The level of 20 land environments is used to report on biodiversity indicators.
Land Environments of New Zealand, Levels 1 to 4, showing mapping scales for 20 to 500 land environments
