Proportion of Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ) protected and under indigenous cover
Background
This measure relates to indicator 1.6.1 – Ecosystem representation and protection status.
The Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ) classification provides a framework for conservation management in New Zealand by considering the natural relationship between the environment and species distributions. LENZ provides a spatial framework for surrogate indigenous ecosystems. DOC is monitoring the proportion of LENZ classes that are legally protected and under indigenous cover to quantify changes in the New Zealand landscape and to assess the degree to which the potential for protection of indigenous biodiversity is realised.
Less than 1% of lowland areas in the North Island and eastern South Island are protected and under indigenous cover.
What did we measure?
Three national datasets were used to assess the overall changes in New Zealand’s native vegetation by environment type: the Land Cover Database (LCDB) v5.0 was used to categorise indigenous versus modified vegetation for New Zealand as a whole, using land cover information from 2018; the LENZ database was used to classify the environment types; and a legal protection dataset was used to calculate the proportion of legally protected areas, including all DOC-managed land, Ngā Whenua Rāhui and Queen Elizabeth II National Trust (QE2) covenants, as at June 2021.
What did we find?
- Less than 10% of lowland areas in the North Island and eastern South Island are currently protected (Table 1).
- Nationally, more than 30% of land is protected. However, protection is uneven and less than 20% of remaining indigenous cover is protected in 208 of 500 LENZ Level IV units (Table 1).
- There was an increase in protection on most LENZ Level I units between 2012 and 2021 (Figure 1).
- The overall area of indigenous cover declined between 2012 and 2018, with small losses over most LENZ Level I units (Figure 1).
Table
| LENZ Level I unit | Total area (ha) | Percent indigenous | Percent protected | Percent in indigenous cover and protected | Number of Level IV units with <20% indigenous cover | Number of Level IV units with <20% indigenous cover protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern & Central Lowlands & Hill Country | A. Northern lowlands | 1,853,470 | 18.64% | 5.49% | 4.76% | 20 of 33 | 19 of 33 |
| B. Central dry lowlands | 691,629 | 10.35% | 2.21% | 1.20% | 34 of 38 | 34 of 38 | |
| C. Western and southern North Island lowlands | 636,257 | 4.50% | 1.25% | 0.95% | 15 of 19 | 11 of 19 | |
| D. Northern hill country | 2,103,297 | 45.02% | 22.43% | 21.92% | 10 of 31 | 12 of 31 | |
| E. Central dry foothills | 1,323,344 | 45.13% | 30.22% | 22.05% | 5 of 21 | 3 of 21 | |
| F. Central hill country and volcanic plateau | 5,245,896 | 36.71% | 20.76% | 20.04% | 25 of 54 | 19 of 54 | |
| Northern & Central Recent Soils | G. Northern recent soils | 338,879 | 17.14% | 7.90% | 5.24% | 15 of 25 | 17 of 25 |
| H. Central sandy recent soils | 135,380 | 35.53% | 22.55% | 21.24% | 8 of 20 | 3 of 20 | |
| I. Central poorly-drained recent soils | 121,103 | 5.27% | 3.29% | 2.08% | 14 of 19 | 13 of 19 | |
| J. Central well-drained recent soils | 293,515 | 7.17% | 2.74% | 1.11% | 24 of 26 | 19 of 26 | |
| K. Central upland recent soils | 160,771 | 40.25% | 29.76% | 16.28% | 4 of 22 | 7 of 22 | |
| Southern Lowlands | L. Southern lowlands | 802,608 | 12.57% | 8.34% | 7.27% | 16 of 26 | 10 of 26 |
| M. Western South Island recent soils | 220,662 | 54.87% | 51.16% | 45.36% | 0 of 15 | 0 of 15 | |
| N. Eastern South Island plains | 2,044,921 | 7.09% | 1.25% | 0.54% | 34 of 38 | 34 of 38 | |
| Central Southern Hill Country & Mountains | O. Western South Island foothills and Stewart Island | 1,415,937 | 90.29% | 82.61% | 81.83% | 0 of 27 | 0 of 27 |
| P. Central mountains | 3,248,187 | 93.43% | 78.19% | 76.87% | 0 of 34 | 0 of 34 | |
| Q. Southeastern hill country and mountains | 3,277,209 | 51.75% | 25.70% | 23.87% | 6 of 29 | 6 of 29 | |
| R. Southern Alp | 1,931,526 | 99.86% | 95.85% | 95.80% | 0 of 16 | 0 of 16 | |
| S. Ultramafic soils | 33,513 | 97.18% | 93.40% | 92.87% | 0 of 6 | 1 of 6 | |
| Nival | T. Permanent snow and ice | 157,156 | 99.99% | 98.01% | 98.00% | 0 of 1 | 0 of 1 |
| Total | 26,246,682 | 48.49% | 34.46% | 32.99% | 230 of 500 | 208 of 500 |
Note:
* Other is the NULL class in LENZ. These are predominantly in Rivers, Estuaries and Lakes.
Figures
Figure 1: Changes in the percentage of protection and indigenous cover of LENZ Level I units.
Data quality
This measure is classified as a national indicator and complies with the data quality guidelines used in used in New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting framework.
Glossary of terms
Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ) is an environmental classification that is intended to underpin a range of conservation and resource management issues. Four levels of classification detail are available, containing 20, 100, 200, and 500 units, respectively.
LENZ Level I defines 20 environment units across New Zealand’s three main islands.
LENZ Level IV defines 500 environment units across New Zealand’s three main islands.