Focusing Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental reporting system

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton has found that huge gaps in data and knowledge undermine our stewardship of the environment, and recommends concerted action and serious investment to improve the system.

The report states:

“Tenuous funding arrangements have also affected several databases. For example, Land Environments of New Zealand is a spatial classification that maps landscape variation. It was produced by overlaying 15 individual datasets (characterising climate, soils and topography). After the classification was developed in 2002–2003, the funding dried up, posing challenges for maintaining the viability of the database over time.

 Some long-standing databases and collections have been lucky enough to be considered ‘nationally significant’ and receive national funding. A list of 25 nationally significant collections and databases was established in 1992 and has remained unchanged ever since. MBIE is currently reviewing the Government’s investment in scientific collections and databases, but no conclusions about a final set of the databases to be funded were available at the time of writing.

 It should be noted that existing funding arrangements for these databases and collections do not account for inflation. This can create significant challenges for agencies attempting to maintain the viability of these databases over time.”