State of the environment report shows challenges and progress

New Zealand has an enviable environment, compared to many countries internationally. But our everyday activities and choices – both past and present – have put pressures on our soil, water, air and other natural resources, and some trends are going in the wrong direction.

Our environment is not just about our iconic landscapes – it’s
also about the urban areas where most of us now live.

This is in a nutshell the most important message from the Ministry for the Environment’s second state of the environment report Environment New Zealand 2007, which was released in January.

Environment New Zealand 2007 paints a picture of the health of New Zealand’s land, water, air, plants and animals. It describes trends and measures the impact of selected pressures on the environment such as transport, waste, energy and household consumption.

“The report highlights the need to continue to protect and reinforce New Zealand’s environmental standing and our clean green reputation,” Hugh Logan, then Secretary for the Environment, said at the launch of the report.

“This piece of work is an important basis for improving those areas which the report shows need attention.”

Key findings

So what does the report tell us?

At the highest level, Environment New Zealand 2007 shows us the uniqueness of our environment – a high proportion of our species are unique to New Zealand.

It also shows that our environment is not just about our iconic landscapes – it’s also about the urban areas where most of us now live.

It reflects the increased intensity of urban and rural land use and its consequences for water quality and soil health.

The report illustrates the impact and significant improvements achieved since resource management legislation came into force 16 years ago. For example, aspects of our air and water quality have improved due to controls on point source discharges.

The report highlights the need to conserve our environment to protect our economic well-being, social systems and cultural wealth for today as well as for future generations. It confirms that our land and sea-based primary production and our tourism sectors all rely on New Zealand’s ‘clean and green’ reputation.

More specific findings are the ongoing growth of our population which has contributed to more consumption of goods and services, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and the rising use of transport and energy. All this has an impact on the environment.

At the same time, other pressures seem to be reducing. The amount of waste sent to landfill has gone down and recycling rates are growing, we have more land under management for pest weeds and animals, and we are now protecting more land for conservation than ever before.

There are some encouraging trends. Air quality in most areas is getting better. Ozone levels in the atmosphere have stabilised. Discharges in our fresh water from single-point sources (such as wastewater treatment plants, meat works and farm effluent ponds) have gone down, and some endangered species are recovering.

However, other trends are worrying and need improvement. Nutrient levels in our fresh waters have risen, soil quality from some land uses has become worse, the range of some native species has decreased, and some fish stocks have been over-exploited.

As our production and consumption or natural resources
increases so does pressure on the environment.

Hugh Logan said the findings of the report will be used by government agencies to identify whether environmental policies and programmes need strengthening or updating. The Ministry for the Environment will be leading this exercise in 2008.

Useful resource

Apart from the findings attracting a lot of public and media interest, various organisations have welcomed the report as a useful resource for decision-making on environmental issues.

The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development says the report helps define the priority issues the country needs to address.

“Most of the report's findings are not a surprise. It's a welcome stocktake because so much of our economy and quality of life is underpinned by our environment," Business Council Chief Executive Peter Neilson said.

Local Government New Zealand President Basil Morrison said the report includes information to enable better decision-making and provides a call to action for everyone to tackle the issue of sustainability with greater urgency.

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright commented on the data in the report as "an invaluable addition to our knowledge of the environment".

Latest reporting methods

Environment New Zealand 2007 capitalises on huge improvements in environmental reporting tools since the publication of its predecessor in 1997, The State of New Zealand’s Environment 1997.

While the 1997 report was mostly a narrative analysis, the 2007 report uses hard data to benchmark the health of our environment. To do so, it reports on 19 indicators and over 80 specific aspects of the natural world around us. This will help build a clear picture of trends and pressures on our environment in the years to come.

State-of-the-art mapping technology has been used to capture and present complex information in easy-to-follow maps. The value of the maps in the report has already been recognised: they won a national geospatial mapping award before the report itself was even launched.

Environmental reporting is here to stay

The next report is planned for 2012. It is part of the Ministry’s mandate to conduct state of the environment reporting under a new reporting framework, which was agreed by the Government in 2006.

Monitoring by organisations around New Zealand provides
information for reports such as Environment New Zealand 2007.

“We are committed to releasing a nationwide state of the environment report every five years, in addition to regular trend and snapshot updates – some on an annual basis,” said Todd Krieble, General Manager Reporting and Communications at the Ministry.

A selection of key findings:

We are driving bigger and older cars, further than we did in the past but many more of us are using public transport.
New Zealand’s economic growth has exceeded the growth of energy demand, but we are still consuming more energy – especially from fossil fuels.
The intensification of agricultural land is resulting in increasing use of water and fertiliser, and more greenhouse gas emissions.
The intensification of urban land leads to higher levels of hard surfacing, increased stormwater runoff and land compaction.
Fishing activity under the Quota Management System has reduced in recent years to allow stocks to recover but a growing percentage of our fish stock has been overfished.
Forest cover has increased – which offsets greenhouse gas emissions.
Bacterial levels at beaches appear to be improving.
Hill country erosion is improving in some areas.

For more information contact Justine Daw, email justine.daw@mfe.govt.nz or phone (04) 439 7594.

To order a free copy of Environment New Zealand 2007 email orders@mfe.govt.nz.

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