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Environment New Zealand 2007 questions and answers - Key findings

What are the key findings?

  • Consumption of goods and services by New Zealand households has grown. As our consumption has grown, so has our ‘ecological footprint’ – one measure of sustainability. 
  • On average, New Zealanders now own more cars, they are getting older and larger, and we are driving them further than in the past. Our light vehicle fleet continues to age. Use of public transport is increasing.
  • New Zealanders are using more energy, and an increasing proportion of our energy comes from fossil fuels. While our energy needs are increasing, they are not increasing as fast as our economy is growing. When electricity use by households is combined with their transport fuel use, households are the largest users of energy in New Zealand.
  • Waste management in New Zealand has improved through better controls on landfills. While we have made progress in reducing the amount of waste we throw away, many potentially useful materials continue to be disposed of in landfills.
  • While New Zealand has good air quality in most locations for most of the time, about 30 locations can experience poor air quality, affecting about 53 per cent of the population. Levels of PM10 particulates from home heating or road transport generally appear to be falling in the main centres. Levels of other air pollutants appear to have improved or stabilised, although Auckland can experience high levels of nitrous oxide and sulphur dioxide.
  • New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase. Since 1990, emissions removed from the atmosphere by forestry have increased as exotic forest cover has increased, although rates of new planting are the lowest in many decades and replanting rates have tailed off.
  • Ozone levels over New Zealand have stabilised. Accordingly, the levels of ultraviolet radiation in New Zealand have dropped (improved) over recent years.
  • Agricultural land use in New Zealand has intensified. The area in dairy pasture and the national dairy herd have both increased, leading to increases in fertiliser, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions.  
  • Horticultural and agricultural soils are generally in poorer condition than soils under other land uses, with higher levels of compaction, build up of nitrogen and phosphates, and lower levels of organic carbon.
  • By international standards, freshwater in New Zealand is both clean and plentiful in supply. However, demand for water is increasing, particularly in drier parts of the country, where surface waters such as rivers and lakes already have high levels of water allocated for use. 
  • Water quality is generally poorest in rivers, streams and lakes in urban areas, followed by farmed areas. On average, levels of nutrients (eg, nitrogen and phosphorus) have increased in our rivers. Pollution from a single facility at a known location, such as discharges from wastewater treatment plants, meatworks, and farm effluent ponds have decreased.
  • Fishing activity under the Quota Management System has reduced as the allowable catch for some high-value species has reduced. Fifteen percent of assessed fish stocks have been overfished and are now recovering. 
  • Bacterial levels at monitored beaches appear to be improving.
  • By international standards, a high proportion of New Zealand’s land and sea is protected for conservation purposes. Both the area of conservation land and the land area under intensive pest management have increased.
  • The seven monitored native bird and plant species have all decreased in range since the 1970s. Many other native species remain threatened. While some native species have improved their threat status, others have worsened.

More detailed findings are available for the following sections:

What is being done about these findings?

  • Government is taking the findings of the report seriously.
  • The Ministry for the Environment provides leadership on environmental sustainability across central and local government, iwi, businesses and the wider community
  • A suite of initiatives across government are underway to move New Zealand towards a sustainable nation, and specific targets have been set, for example in the areas of climate change and energy.
  • The report will be used to identify whether environmental policies and programmes need strengthening or updating. The Ministry for the Environment will lead this process over the course of the year, working alongside a number of other government departments.
  • The Ministry will engage with key interest and sector groups throughout the year to encourage broader discussion on how New Zealand might best progress towards sustainability.

What else is being done?

  • The government is working to reduce or mitigate the impact of increased intensification of land use on the environment through initiatives with the agricultural sector, such as the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord, and the Sustainable Water Programme of Action. In urban areas, a lot of work is underway under the Urban Design Protocol and other initiatives.
  • The Emissions Trading Scheme will add further economic impetus to this work by establishing a ‘cost’ of converting from a low-emissions land use to high emissions land use (such as dairy farming). 
  • New Zealand is also leading an international network to research greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. This work will reinforce the sustainability of our agriculture internationally.
  • Details of initiatives on waste, energy, transport, air quality, biodiversity, land and water management are listed under the questions on each chapter of the report.

Additional questions and answers