Land use that results in a change from indigenous to exotic cover can cause biodiversity loss and reduce functioning of ecosystems. Using more land for agriculture, forestry, and urbanisation is the main driver reducing indigenous land cover across New Zealand.

Column headings: area_ha = area of land cover measured in hectares

This dataset relates to the "Land use" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

Land cover describes the extent of vegetation, water bodies, built environments, and bare natural surfaces (eg gravel and rock) across New Zealand. Measuring the composition of and changes in land cover can help us understand the pressures that different land uses are placing on the biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems.

This measure reports on land cover by class, regional council area, and change over time in hectares and percentage.

For more information on the Landcover Database please refer to: https://lris.scinfo.org.nz/layer/48423-lcdb-v41-land-cover-database-version-41-mainland-new-zealand/

This is a sample of the NationalMap Dataset, for an area including parts of Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District.

To obtain this data for the whole country it is available for ongoing licensed access please visit: https://www.nationalmap.co.nz/contact-us

A subset of the NationalMap dataset consisting of Built Up areas defined by LINZ and modified by NationalMap to encompass the extent of built up urban areas including commercial and residential categories. These are named urbanised areas.

'Urban' is defined as 'of, pertaining to, or constituting a city or town; occurring in or characteristic of a city or town'. In the majority of cases, an urban area will be characterised by high population density, small land holdings (regularly less than 0.4 hectares), and zoning that is compatible with high density commercial, industrial and/or residential activity.

NationalMap modifications to the original dataset include the identification of detailed boundaries for built up areas from the latest available aerial imagery supplied by LINZ. Therefore the dataset contains whole urban areas not included in the original LINZ dataset.

Sea water inundation is defined as the movement of sea water onto the hinterland behind the beach system. Sea water inundations are mainly confined to South Canterbury where approximately 1,000 hectares of land in the Waihao-Wainono, Hook-Makikihi and Washdyke-Seadown-Milford areas have been historically affected. Along the remainder of the region’s coast, sea water inundation problems have been reported at Rakaia-Taumutu, Leithfield, Amberley, and along sections of the Kaikoura Coast.

Farm size describes the area of large commercial properties (registered for goods and services tax) that farm crops and/or livestock. It is important to measure the extent of these agricultural activities because their size influences the extent of their impacts on soil health and water quality.

Column headings: area_ha = total area of farming activity measured in hectares

This dataset relates to the "Farm size" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

High-class land is the most productive land for growing food. It supports most crops across New Zealand. Expanding lifestyle blocks and urban areas reduces the availability of high-class land for commercial crop growing, and this land is unlikely to be returned to primary production. This affects our commercial food-production capacity.

Column headings: area_kha = area of land measured in kilohectares (ie multiply by 1000 to get hectares)

This dataset relates to the "High-class land for food production" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

high-class land is the most productive land for growing food. It supports most crops across New Zealand. Expanding lifestyle blocks and urban areas reduces the availability of high-class land for commercial crop growing, and this land is unlikely to be returned to primary production. This affects our commercial food-production capacity.

Column headings: area_kha = area of land measured in kilohectares (ie multiply by 1000 to get hectares)

This dataset relates to the "High-class land for food production" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.