Issue
3, Summer 2009 - Welcome to Environmental
Indicators Quarterly, the Ministry for the
Environment’s e-newsletter linking you to
information on what’s happening in the realm
of environmental reporting. We hope you
find this newsletter useful and informative.
We welcome your ideas, feedback and suggestions
– please contact us at environmental.reporting@mfe.govt.nz.
First national environmental
report cards released
To ensure up-to-date, high-quality environmental
information is available, the Ministry for
the Environment is producing a series of
national environmental report cards.
These web-based report
cards are grouped according to 10 ‘domains’,
which correspond to chapters within Environment
New Zealand 2007 (ENZ07): air, atmosphere,
land, fresh water, oceans, biodiversity,
consumption, transport, energy and waste.
The report cards update data for the core
national environmental indicators reported
in ENZ07. They are designed for a wide readership,
and are published on a regular basis (in
many cases, annually) as new data becomes
available. While recognising the social
and economic aspects of the core indicators,
the report cards present information primarily
from an environmental perspective.
The report cards use
a set of symbols to illustrate whether the
indicator shows improving or worsening trends
in the aspect of the environment under consideration.
It is common practice to use symbols to
present this type of high-level information:
other Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) countries and regional
councils in New Zealand commonly use such
symbols in their environmental reporting.
Other national indicator reporting programmes
also use symbols in a similar way (eg, the
Ministry of Social Development uses them
in its annual Social Report).
An independent review
of ENZ07 showed that readers expect a clear
signal as to how the New Zealand environment
measures up internationally. As a result,
where possible, the report cards compare
New Zealand’s environmental performance
against its OECD peers.
The report cards also
have a ‘future watch’ section, which signals
emerging issues likely to have an impact
on the indicator in the future.
The first environmental
report cards, Marine Areas with Legal Protection
and Air Quality (Particulate Matter – PM10),
are now available on the Ministry’s website
at www.mfe.govt.nz/environmental-reporting/report-cards/index.html
(also see below). Work is well underway
to report on the indicators for vehicle
kilometres travelled (road transport), household
consumption expenditure, energy supply and
demand, and waste composition.
Report card profile:
Marine Areas with Legal Protection
Around the world, marine reserves are important
in achieving marine conservation goals.
They do so by conserving habitats and biodiversity,
maintaining marine communities, and fostering
the recovery of some species.
The environmental report
card Marine Areas with Legal Protection
provides information on marine reserves
using latest data from 2008. It reports
on the percentage of New Zealand’s territorial
sea protected by marine reserves, and the
degree to which different marine ecosystems
are protected by marine reserves. Once a
national network of marine protected areas
has been established, future report cards
will report on both marine reserves and
other marine management tools.
This report card updates
data presented in Environment New Zealand
2007 and shows similar findings: an increasing
proportion of our marine environment is
protected by marine reserves.
Some key findings follow:
There are 33 legally
protected marine reserves in New Zealand,
covering 7.06 per cent (12,792 square kilometres)
of our territorial sea. This is higher than
in most Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) countries.
Two marine reserves
have been established since the Ministry
last reported on this indicator, adding
a further 22.59 square kilometres to the
marine reserve area.
The marine protection
report card also provides an estimate of
how New Zealand is tracking towards the
New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy target
of protecting 10 per cent of the marine
environment by 2010.
Report card profile:
Air Quality (Particulate Matter – PM10)
Poor outdoor air quality is a significant
issue in some locations in New Zealand.
About two-thirds of New Zealanders live
in areas that can experience air pollution.
Particulate matter (known as PM10) is a
pollutant of concern because it regularly
occurs at high levels in urban areas and
is linked to harmful health effects. High
winter levels of PM10 are mainly caused
by the use of wood and coal for home heating.
The environmental report
card Air Quality (Particulate Matter – PM10)
discusses PM10 levels in monitored airsheds
in New Zealand using latest data from 2007.
It compares daily PM10 levels with the national
environmental standard for air quality,
and annual levels with the national guideline
for air quality.
Both the standard (introduced
in 2004) and the guideline (introduced in
2002) were established to provide a minimum
level of protection for the health of New
Zealanders. The national standard requires
regional councils to bring PM10 levels in
their airsheds within the standard by September
2013. Resource consent applications for
discharges to air will not be granted in
airsheds that fail to comply with the PM10
standard by this date.
The report card has
a number of key findings:
In 2007, 42 per cent
of the 40 monitored airsheds in New Zealand
complied with the national standard for
PM10. While there has been some fluctuation,
compliance with the national standard has
increased from 31 per cent in 2005. However,
18 of the 20 airsheds non-complying in 2005
have continued to breach the PM10 standard.
In 2007, the Otago 1,
Timaru and Rotorua airsheds breached the
standard most often. The highest number
of times the standard was exceeded in an
airshed increased from 51 in 2005 to 55
in 2007.
In 2007, 81 per cent of the 37 airsheds
for which data was reported met the New
Zealand annual guideline for PM10. For the
first time since reporting began, indicator
sites in all five main centres met the guideline
in 2007.
In 2006, annual levels
of PM10 at indicator sites in New Zealand’s
five main centres were comparable to levels
at similar sites in Sydney and Melbourne.
Latest waste composition
survey results available
Over a decade ago, the Ministry for the
Environment began a programme to periodically
estimate the composition of waste in New
Zealand landfills. Waste composition estimates
help us to better understand what potentially
valuable materials are being thrown away
(eg, glass, plastics, metals) and then target
waste policies to ensure that these materials
are more effectively reused or reprocessed.
This is important for both economic and
environmental reasons.
Waste composition data
is also used to support the Ministry’s environmental
reporting programme – the national environmental
indicator for waste reports on both the
quantity and composition of solid waste
disposed of to landfill.
The 2007/08 waste composition
survey of four ‘indicator’ sites across
the country – Silverstream, Kaikoura, and
Green Island landfills, and Matamata transfer
station – is now complete, and the results
are posted on the Ministry’s website at:
www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/waste/solid-waste-audits-2007-2008/main-report/index.html.
The last survey of these sites was in 2003/04.
The latest survey results estimate that
since then:
the proportion of paper,
metal, and construction and demolition waste
sent to landfill has reduced
the proportion of textiles, rubber and potentially
hazardous waste has roughly stayed the same
the proportion of plastic, organic, glass,
and nappies and sanitary waste has increased.
Although the four sites are not necessarily
representative of the approximately 60 landfills
across the country, they do provide a more
detailed picture of waste disposal patterns
in New Zealand.
LCDB mapping of Mt Taranaki:
satellite image (top) to land
cover boundaries (middle) to land cover
database (bottom)
Updating the Land Cover Database – LCDB3
The Land Cover Database (LCDB) is a national
database used to support environmental decision-making.
The LCDB is a digital map that is created
by grouping similar types of vegetation
and other land cover identified from satellite
images. The information in the database
can be used to analyse land use and habitat
distribution. At present, there are two
versions of the LCDB, which map land cover
in 1996/97 and 2001/02.
A new land cover database
project is proposed to provide a digital
map representing land cover for 2007/08.
The project, known as LCDB3, is designed
to capitalise on existing satellite imagery
from the mapping component of the Land Use
and Carbon Analysis System (LUCAS). This
will significantly reduce the cost of the
project.
The Ministry is now
scoping the requirements for the new LCDB
and will be assessing these requirements
for technical feasibility. A design for
LCDB3 will be proposed and a business case
developed setting out costs and funding
options, both from within the Ministry and
from other parties, as required. A first
LCDB3 workshop with users of land cover
information was held in Wellington on 16
December 2008. Further workshops are scheduled
for February 2009 in Christchurch (19th),
Dunedin (20th), Palmerston North (25th)
and Hamilton (26th). If you would like to
attend one of the workshops, please contact
Karl Majorhazi at (04) 439 7455 or at karl.majorhazi@mfe.govt.nz.
Environmental reporting
framework
The environmental reporting framework describes
the Ministry’s environmental reporting programme.
‘Reporting on the state of New Zealand’s
environment: A guide to the national environmental
reporting programme’ describes the Ministry’s
role in environmental reporting, sets out
the work being done within the environmental
reporting programme, and explains how it
fits with the work of other agencies.
The framework sets down
the strategic direction of the Ministry’s
environmental reporting programme and describes
the principles that underpin it. These principles
are to:
adhere to international
best practice in environmental reporting
use an internationally recognised reporting
model (‘pressure-state-response’)
use indicators as a basis for environmental
reporting
use standard criteria for indicator selection
focus on national-scale reporting.
The framework also details the requirements
of the programme to:
comply with Official
Statistics System principles and protocols
support work to report on progress towards
sustainable development
meet New Zealand’s international reporting
obligations.
For more information on the environmental
reporting framework, please contact Justine
Daw at (04) 439 7594 or at justine.daw@mfe.govt.nz.
The OECD’s environmental
indicator programme
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) pioneered the development
of international environmental indicators
in 1989/90. Since that time, the OECD has
developed several sets of environmental
indicators:
core environmental indicators
(of which there are about 55)
key environmental indicators (a subset of
the core set)
sectoral environmental indicators (for example,
transport, energy and agriculture indicators)
indicators derived from environmental accounting
(indicators which help integrate environmental
concerns into economic and resource management
policies)
decoupling environmental indicators (indicators
which compare environmental consumption
or pressure to economic growth).
Between them, these indicator sets measure
environmental progress and performance,
monitor and promote sectoral policy integration,
ensure integration of environmental concerns
into economic policies, and show how economic
growth can be accomplished without environmental
damage.
As part of this work,
the OECD established the ‘pressure-state-response’
framework. The framework is a well-known
model used both in New Zealand and internationally
to underpin environmental reporting. For
more on the OECD’s work in this area go
to www.oecd.org/department/0,3355,en_2649_34441_1_1_1_1_1,00.html.
In brief
Household Sustainability Survey 2008
Results of the 2008 Household Sustainability
Survey are now available. The Ministry-commissioned
survey covered a number of topics: using
water efficiently, organic waste reduction,
managing electrical waste, energy efficiency,
transportation, building and renovating
sustainably, and taking sustainability into
account for purchasing decisions. The nationwide
survey of 1000 people was conducted by Research
New Zealand in September 2008. There were
a number of key findings:
Most surveyed believe
that New Zealand households generate too
much rubbish and waste (87 per cent), and
that water supply is limited and should
not be wasted (86 per cent).
Just over one-half of
respondents (52 per cent) report doing quite
a few things that are environmentally friendly.
Importantly, another 22 per cent responded
that most things they do are environmentally
friendly and 1 per cent say that this is
the case with everything they do. In other
words, 75 per cent of those surveyed believe
they are currently acting in a sustainable
manner.
When asked who was responsible
for protecting and caring for the environment,
83 per cent of respondents said all New
Zealanders, while 32 per cent said the government.
These results compare with a benchmark survey
in 2007 where only 39 per cent agreed that
environmental care was everyone’s responsibility,
and 41 per cent felt the government should
take care of it.
The full research results
can be seen at www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/sus-dev/household-sustainability-survey-11-2008/index.html.
Good Practice Guide
for Air Quality Monitoring and Data Management
2009
Work is well under way on the Ministry for
the Environment’s ‘Good Practice Guide for
Air Quality Monitoring and Data Management
2009’, which replaces an earlier guide published
in 2000. The guide is a vital tool in promoting
accuracy and consistency in the measurement
of air pollutants and the management of
air monitoring data. The new guide responds
to a number of changes and developments
in air quality monitoring in New Zealand,
not least the five ambient air quality national
environmental standards that came into effect
in September 2004. These standards specify
a number of mandatory monitoring requirements.
The new guide also provides general good
practice guidance on data formats and meteorological
monitoring.
The Ministry held a
workshop with stakeholders in December 2008
to review the new good practice guide, and
it will be published on the Ministry’s website
in the next quarter. For more information
contact Rapunzel Mulawin at (04) 439 7776
or rapunzel.mulawin@mfe.govt.nz.
National Environmental
Reporting Forum
After the success of the first National
Environmental Reporting Forum in August
2008, the Ministry will host a second forum
in late March/early April 2009. The aim
of the forums is to build a ‘community of
interest’ in environmental reporting around
the country. The first forum was attended
by a variety of agencies involved in national,
local and iwi-based environmental monitoring
and reporting.
Department of Conservation’s
Natural Heritage Management System
The Department of Conservation
(DoC) is developing a Natural Heritage Management
System (NHMS) which will enable the most
cost-effective use of resources for species
and ecosystem management. The NHMS will
use indicators to measure the ecological
integrity of sites, monitor trends over
time, optimise management interventions
and show their effectiveness. Considerable
research underpins the system.
A national monitoring
system will enable coherent reporting on
the state of biodiversity conservation in
New Zealand. This initiative will also contribute
to the Ministry for the Environment’s environmental
reporting on biodiversity. The NHMS programme
is being implemented progressively in DoC
and then the wider conservation community
over the next five years. For more information
contact Ana Cotter at acotter@doc.govt.nz.
New environmental reporting
web pages
The Ministry for the Environment’s environmental
reporting web pages are currently being
revamped, to reflect feedback from the independent
review of Environment New Zealand 2007.
The review found that readers expect easier
access to environmental information, more
up-to-date data, online access to that data,
and summary-level, plain English information.
Improvements are being
made to the web pages’ structure, navigation,
and design. The new pages will be more dynamic
and interactive, and present information
on a number of levels (eg, nationally and
regionally). There will be more graphs,
and the underlying data will be accessible
online.
The Ministry’s state
of the environment publications web page
has also been updated, bringing together
in one place the full suite of environmental
reporting publications produced by the Ministry
in recent years. Until now, many of these
publications were only accessible from other
Ministry web pages (eg, waste, water). The
publications, including indicator reports,
technical reports and best practice guides,
can be accessed at www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/ser.
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to this newsletter please email environmental.reporting@mfe.govt.nz
