Core set of national environmental indicators

Changes in air quality in managed air sheds

Trends in air quality for:

• selected urban area sites
• other selected sites.

Shows where changes in air quality may impact on human health.

Limitations: indicator data only represents monitoring sites and managed air sheds, not all of New Zealand.

MfE**, regional councils*

Exceedences, maximum concentrations and annual averages of:

• Particulate Matter (PM₁₀)
• carbon monoxide (CO)
• nitrogen dioxide (NO₂)
• sulphur dioxide (SO₂)
• ground level ozone.

Trends in national water quality.

Shows where changes in water quality may impact on ecological and human health.

Limitations: indicator data only represents monitoring sites or water bodies that are monitored within a representative sample design, e.g. river environment types from the River Environment Classification (REC).

MfE**, regional councils*

Statistics NZ linked indicator

Parameters to be selected from the range presented below :

• River water quality:
  Ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrate, dissolved reactive phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, clarity, E. coli, macorinvertebrates, temperature
• Lake water quality: trophic status, ecological condition (Lake SPI)
• Groundwater quality: E. coli, nitrate, conductivity
• Recreational water quality: E. coli (freshwater), and enterococci (coastal).

Changes in the proportion of water allocated for areas with allocation limits.

Shows limits in water availability (surface and groundwater) and where and how much of that water is allocated through consents.

Limitations: indicator data does not represent actual water use.

• weekly and annual allocation (m³/s).

Trends in emissions and removals of greenhouse gases.

Shows how NZ is meeting its Kyoto commitments relating to GHG emissions and removals

Limitations: some GHG emissions and removals data is modelled.

MfE**, MED*, MoT*

• carbon dioxide (CO₂)
• methane (CH₄)
• nitrous oxide (N₂O)
• hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
• perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
• sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆).

Change in stratospheric ozone levels over New Zealand.

Shows repair of ozone layer over New Zealand.

Limitations : none

• stratospheric ozone.

Trends in quantity and composition of solid waste to landfill.

Shows waste stream patterns reflecting our consumption and resource use.

Limitations: indicator data only represents monitored landfills.

• quantity (by weight) and composition of solid waste to landfill by waste categories (e.g. paper, plastic, glass, metal, organic, concrete, wood).

Of the total number of confirmed contaminated sites, the proportion of sites both confirmed remediated and managed so that they no longer have, or are reasonably likely to have, significant adverse effects on the environment.

Shows the management of confirmed contaminated land.

Limitations: indicator does not report on sites with insufficient information to be confirmed contaminated.

MfE**, regional councils*

• confirmed contaminated sites
• remediated sites
• managed sites.

Changes/trends in land cover and land use.

Shows changes in land cover (e.g. exotic or indigenous forest, pasture) and land use (e.g. forestry, dairying, sheep, beef).

Limitations: agricultural land use data is currently inferred from the satellite imagery of land cover and from general farm surveys.

MfE**, DoC*, MAF**, regional councils*

• Land cover classes (LCDB series)
• Land use classes and data from: Land Use and Carbon Analysis System (LUCAS); Agricultural Statistics Survey land use parameters.

Changes/ trends in land cover and land use compared to land use capability.

Shows: change in areas susceptible to hill country erosion and selected areas at risk from unsustainable land use.

Limitations: agricultural land use data is inferred from satellite imagery of land cover or general farm surveys.

• Land cover classes (LCDB series)
• Land use classes (LUCAS), AgriBase
• Land Use Capability (LUC) classes from the New Zealand Land Resource Inventory (NZLRI)
• New Zealand Soils orders
• Elevation (Digital Elevation Model, Digital Terrain Model).

Ecological Footprint for New Zealand and its regions.

True sustainability indicator that shows the amount of land required to support the lifestyle choices of a given population.

Limitations: some ecological footprint data is modelled.

• total amount of productive land (in hectares) required to support a given population (national or regional) derived from various national and regional input/output data (purchases, imports, exports, CO2 emissions/ removals).

Change in distribution of selected native plants and animals.

Shows whether selected native species (including threatened and protected species) are present or absent in any given area and the change in distribution over time.  Will include terrestrial, freshwater and marine species indicator data at it becomes available.

Limitations: indicator data does not show the abundance of species (how many/ the population(s) that are present).

• kiwi
• yellowhead
• kaka
• kokako
• short/ long tailed bats
• dactylanthus
• long finned eels
• giant kokopu
• wrybill
• frogs

Extent of indigenous vegetation and legally protected areas by Land Environment New Zealand (LENZ) classification.

Shows what proportion of LENZ environments are covered by indigenous vegetation and protected and the proportion of New Zealand’s ecosystems represented in our protected areas network.

Limitations: indicator data does not identify ecosystems at a community or habitat (species composition) level and does not identify the effectiveness of the protection.

DoC**, MfE**, regional councils*, QEII*

• different indigenous vegetation cover classes from the Land Cover Database (LCDB) and/ or LUCAS
• Land Environments New Zealand (LENZ) environments at a specified group level (Level I, II, III or IV)
• digitised legally protected areas data.

Extent of marine areas with legal protection by biogeographic region and Marine Environment Classification (MEC)

Shows what proportion of biogeographic regions (Territorial Sea) and marine environments (Exclusive Economic Zone) are protected and the proportion of ecosystems represented in New Zealand’s protected areas network.

Limitations: The indicator data does not identify ecosystems at a community or habitat (species composition) level and does not identify the effectiveness of the protection.  Selected digitised protected areas data will be used relevant to Marine Protected Areas (MPA) policy.

• Marine and Coastal Ecosystem and Habitat Classification (biogeographic regions) and the Marine Environment Classification at a specified group level/ number of environments and tuning (e.g. demersal fish)
• Selected digitised protected areas (e.g. marine reserves).

1. Proportion of seabed bottom trawled since 1989 by Demersal Fish Community Classification.
2. Annual bottom trawling effort over time.

Shows what proportion of the demersal fish classes within the EEZ have been affected by bottom trawling since good records begun. Also shows trends in annual bottom trawling effort over time.

Limitations: indicator does not report the effects that bottom trawling is having on the benthic environment or show fishing effort for ecosystems at a community or habitat (species composition) level. It also does not show the type of substrate impacted.

• Demersal Fish Community Classification at a specified number of classes
• Digitised map of benthic trawl area and effort.

1. Proportion of landings made up of fish stocks that have been quantitatively assessed.
2. Status of assessed fish stocks under the Quota Management System (QMS) relative to agreed target biomass levels.

Shows what proportion of total landings by biomass are from stocks that have been quantitatively assessed.

Shows how many of the total number of commercially managed fish stocks under the Quota Management System (QMS) are: near or above target biomass, probably near or above target biomass, possibly near or above target biomass, below target biomass.  Also shows what proportion of landings by biomass are from stocks that have been assessed.

Limitations: Many stocks are assessed quantitatively. Some stocks such as arrow squid cannot be assessed against target biomass due to their biology.

• selected fish stocks in the New Zealand Quota Management System (QMS)*
• species target biomass.

Trends in total vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) by vehicle type and age.

Shows the types and ages of vehicles we drive and the distances we travel.

MoT**, MfE*

• vehicle types (light private vehicles, light commercial, heavy commercial, motorbikes/mopeds)
• kilometres
• fuel type (petrol, diesel)
• vehicle age (data available since 2000).

Trends in energy demand, use and supply:

• consumer energy demand vs. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
• total consumer energy use
• primary energy supply
• electricity generation.

Shows the type of energy we demand, use and generate (including demand compared to GDP) and the efficiency of different fuel types for electricity generation.

Limitations: some energy data is modelled.

MED**, MfE*

Statistics NZ linked indicator

• fuel type (coal, gas, oil, renewable electricity, thermal electricity, other renewables).
• industry class (agriculture, wood processing, mining, food and beverages, paper, printing and publishing, non-metallic mineral production, basic metals industries, transport and storage, fishing, petrochemicals).
• sector class (agriculture, commercial, domestic transport, industrial, residential).
• energy source (coal, indigenous oil, imported oil and oil products, hydro, gas, geothermal, other renewables).

Trends in real household consumption expenditure.

Shows our consumption patterns (as expressed in money spent) for specific goods and service areas.

Limitations: indicator data is not currently available below the national level (i.e. not available by regional jurisdiction, city or town).

Statistics NZ**, MfE*

• food and beverages
• clothing and footwear
• housing
• household goods and services
• transport
• leisure and education
• hotels and restaurants
• other goods and services
• health and medical goods and services.