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Environmental reporting

State of the environment reporting provides accurate and authoritative information to people in central and local government, businesses, iwi and communities who make decisions about natural resource use and management.

What are we seeking to achieve?

Outcome

  • Accessible, high-quality information.

What will we do to achieve this?

In all of its policy work, the Ministry requires facts-based research, information and analysis to develop an evidence base for making good decisions. Reporting on the state of New Zealand’s environment is essential for the Ministry to deliver on its shorter term outcomes.

To achieve the longer term outcome stated above, the Ministry will carry out the following activities:

  • finalise an environmental reporting framework to guide national-level reporting on the state of the New Zealand environment

  • produce a comprehensive state of the environment report every five years, based on a core set of national environmental indicators

  • in the interim, produce regular (in many cases, annual) updates of the national environmental indicators

  • produce other occasional reports and surveys on selected aspects of the environment, in accordance with the environmental reporting framework

  • develop a national/regional state of the environment reporting forum

  • confirm data-sharing arrangements with regional government and other reporting partners

  • review the Environment New Zealand 2007 report to assess whether it met the needs of users

  • develop a 'blueprint' for the 2012 state of the environment report, based on assessment of whether Environment New Zealand 2007 met the needs of users.

The environmental reporting programme relies on partnerships with, and information collected by, other government departments and agencies, and local government.

How will we demonstrate success?

How will we demonstrate success?

To assess whether shorter term outcomes are being achieved by the environmental reporting work programme, the following evaluation questions will be informally reviewed:

  • Does the Ministry use information produced by the national environmental reporting framework to underpin its strategic policy choices?

  • Do external stakeholders use environmental information produced by the Ministry to inform policy and operational decisions?

  • Does environmental reporting produced by the Ministry meet external users’ information needs?

  • Does environmental data and information on environmental reporting flow freely between reporting partners and the Ministry?

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