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State of the environment publications

Indicator reporting/General publications | Independent Reports | Technical reports | Best practice guides and guidelines

State of the environment reporting may include:

comprehensive state of the environment reports which report on the full set of national environmental indicators
environmental ‘report cards’ (which provide updated data for a particular indicator)
issue-based ‘snapshot’ reports (which provide quantitative information on a specific issue)
other technical reporting, including survey reports
best practice guidance and guidelines
independent reports and reviews.

Indicator reporting/General publications

Name	Date	Reference
Air quality (particulate matter PM₁₀) – Indicator update	October 2012	INFO 656
Solid waste disposal – Indicator update	October 2012	INFO 654
Recreational water quality in New Zealand – Indicator update	October 2012	INFO 653
Stratospheric ozone – Indicator update	October 2012	INFO 652
Household consumption expenditure – Indicator update	October 2012	INFO 642
Greenhouse gases (emissions and removals)	April 2012	INFO 644
Measuring up: Environmental Reporting – A discussion document	August 2011	ME 1065
Environmental Snapshot: Solid Waste Disposal, 2010	July 2011	INFO 610
Environmental Snapshot: Recreational water quality in New Zealand	July 2011	INFO 606
Environmental report card: Fishing Activity - Fish Stocks	November 2010	INFO 562
Air quality (four pollutants): snapshot	May 2010	INFO 497
Fishing Activity: Seabed Trawling environmental snapshot	March 2010	INFO 482
Land use environmental snapshot	January 2010	INFO 472
Soil Health Environmental Snapshot	January 2010	INFO 471
Our Water: Groundwater quality	November 2009	INFO 457
Environmental report card: Fishing Activity - Fish Stocks	September 2009	INFO 436
Our Rivers information sheets	September 2009	INFO 432A–D
Environmental report card: Energy Supply and Demand	July 2009	INFO 421
Environmental report card: Solid Waste Composition	July 2009	INFO 420
Environmental report card: Vehicle kilometres travelled by road	March 2009	INFO 358
Reporting on New Zealand's Environment: How the national environmental reporting programme works	February 2009	ME 921
Environmental report card: Air quality (Particulate Matter - PM₁₀)	February 2009	INFO 363
Environmental report card: Marine areas with legal protection	December 2008	INFO 353
Environmental Indicators Quarterly	Quarterly	Various
Environment New Zealand 2007 information sheets	June 2008	INFO 280A - INFO 280J
Environment New Zealand 2007 – Summary	December 2007	ME 848
Environment New Zealand 2007	December 2007	ME 847
OECD Environmental Performance Review of NZ	April 2007	-
Reporting on our Environment	October 2006	INFO 169
Gentle Footprints: Boots 'n' All	May 2006	ME 738
OECD Environmental Performance Review of NZ	September 2005	-
Land Environments of New Zealand	April 2003	-
Triple Bottom Line Pilot Report (full report and summaries)	December 2002	Various
The State of New Zealand’s Environment 1997	1997	ME 612

Independent reports

Name	Date	Reference
Environment New Zealand 2007 - Independent Review	July 2008	CR 47

Technical reports

Air

Name	Date	Reference
Air quality (four pollutants): snapshot	May 2010	INFO 497
Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) - Annual Reports	Annual	Various
Good Practice Guide for Air Quality Monitoring and Data Management 2009	April 2009	ME 933
Environmental report card: Air quality (Particulate Matter - PM₁₀)	February 2009	INFO 363
Air quality in airsheds	July 2008
Global Environmental Monitoring System(GEMS) - Annual Reports	July 2007	ME 825
Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand - final report	June 2007
Monitoring air quality in New Zealand	June 2007	INFO 195
Global Environmental Monitoring System(GEMS) - Annual Reports	June 2006	ME 749
Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand: Christchurch Pilot Study	August 2005
Amenity Effects of PM10 and TSP Concentrations in New Zealand	August 2003	AQTR 41
Health Effects of PM10 in New Zealand	August 2003	AQTR 39
Monitoring of PM10 in New Zealand	August 2003	AQTR 40
Visibility in New Zealand – National Risk Assessment	October 2000	AQTR 18
Preliminary Assessment of Human Health Indicators of Air Quality	June 1999	AQTR 55
Draft core set of national air quality indicators: Report of focus workshop on development of environmental indicators for air	July 1996	TR 1
NIWA: National ambient air quality monitoring network for New Zealand	June 1995	TR 2

Biodiversity

Name	Date	Reference
Native land cover (protected areas): snapshot	April 2010	INFO 492
A Snapshot of Council Effort to Address Indigenous Biodiversity on Private Land: A Report Back to Councils	June 2004	ME 523
Environmental Performance Indicators: An analysis of potential indicators for terrestrial biodiversity	November 1998	TR 47

Climate Change/Atmosphere

Name	Date	Reference
New Zealand's Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990 - 2007: An overview	April 2009	ME 926
New Zealand's Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990 - 2007	April 2009	ME 928
A Flowchart of New Zealand's Greenhouse Gas Emissions	October 2008
New Zealand's Greenhouse Gas Emissions & Removals from Land Use & Land-use Change & Forestry (LULUCF)	October 2008
Guidance for Voluntary, Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reporting: Data and methods for the 2007 calendar year	September 2008	ME 904
Net Position Report 2008: Projected balance of emissions units during the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol	May 2008	ME 884
New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990–2006	April 2008	ME 885
New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2006: An Overview	April 2008	ME 872
Guidance for Voluntary, Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reporting: Data and methods for the 2006 calendar year	April 2008	ME 871
Review of New Zealand’s 2007 Net Position Report	November 2007	CR 42
Projected balance of emissions units during the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol	September 2007	ME 808
New Zealand's Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2005	July 2007	ME 811
Annual Report on Climate Change Policy and Implementation	June 2006
Projected balance of emissions units during the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol	June 2006
National Inventory Report: 1990-2004	April 2006
Review of Climate Change Policies	November 2005
Review of New Zealand's net position	October 2005
Analysis of the economic impacts of climate change projections in New Zealand 2005	October 2005
Annual Report on Climate Change Policy Implementation 2004/2005	June 2005
Projected balance of units during the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol	May 2005
National Inventory Report: 1990-2003	April 2005
Report on revised projections for the Kyoto Protocol - first commitment period 30 April 2004	July 2004
Annual Report on Climate Change Policy Implementation	July 2004
National Inventory Report: 1990-2002	April 2004
Emission Inventories for CO, NOx, SO2, ozone, benzene and benzo(a)pyrene in New Zealand	November 2003	AQTR 44
Health effects of CO, NO2, SO2, ozone, benzene and benzo(a)pyrene in New Zealand	November 2003	AQTR 43
Monitoring of CO, NO2, SO2, ozone, benzene and benzo(a)pyrene in New Zealand	October 2003	AQTR 42
National Inventory Report: 1990-2001	April 2003
Economic modelling reports	Various dates

Fresh water

Name	Date	Reference
Update of Water Allocation Data and Estimate of Actual Water Use of Consented Takes 2009–10	November 2010	CR 100
Lake water quality in New Zealand 2010: Status and trends	November 2010	CR 97
Freshwater recreational water quality reporting	July 2010
Analysis of national river water quality data for the period 1998-2007	May 2010	CR 88
Modelling water quality in New Zealand rivers from catchment-scale physical, hydrological and land-cover descriptors using random forest models	May 2010	CR 87
New Zealand Guidelines for Cyanobacteria in Recreational Fresh Waters	December 2009	ME 981
River water quality league tables	October 2009
National groundwater quality indicators update: state and trends 1995-2008	September 2009	CR 78
Trends in nuisance periphyton cover at New Zealand National River Water Quality Network sites 1990-2006	August 2009	CR 70
On tap?: Attitudes, behaviours and perceptions of household water use - informing demand management	July 2009	ME 949
Water Quality in Selected Dairy Farming Catchments: A baseline to support future water-quality trend assessments	July 2009	ME 944
Water quality trends at National River Water Quality Network sites for 1989–2007	March 2009	CR 63
Temporal and land-cover trends in freshwater fish communities in New Zealand's rivers: an analysis of data from the New Zealand Freshwater Database - 1970 - 2007	March 2009	CR 62
An Assessment of Regional Council Water Quality Data (1996–2002) in Support of National State of Environment Reporting (ENZ07)	March 2008	CR 33
A User Guide for the Macroinvertebrate Community Index	2007	CR 10
Groundwater Quality in New Zealand: State and Trends 1995–2006	August 2007	ME 832
Lake Water Quality in New Zealand: Status in 2006 and recent trends 1990–2006	August 2007	ME 831
Snapshot of Lake Water Quality in New Zealand	November 2006	ME 776
Snapshot of Water Allocation in New Zealand	November 2006	ME 782
State and Trends in the National River Water Quality Network (1989-2005)	November 2006	ME 778
A Cultural Health Index for Streams and Waterways: A tool for nationwide use	April 2006	ME 710
Nationwide and regional state and trends in river water quality 1996-2002	February 2005	ME 590
Spatial patterns in state and trends of environmental quality in New Zealand rivers: an analysis for State of Environment reporting	February 2005	ME 589
Levels of E. coli in New Zealand rivers	December 2004	-
A review of short-term management options for Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti	December 2003
A Cultural Health Index for Streams and Waterways: Indicators for recognising and expressing Māori values	June 2003	ME 475
Freshwater Microbiology Research Programme Report: Pathogen Occurrence and Human Health Risk Assessment Analysis	November 2002	TR 122
Discussion document for the development of a National Groundwater Data Centre in New Zealand	October 2002	TR 72
Survey of Regional Council River Water Quality Monitoring Programmes	November 2001	TR 70
Groundwater Resource Management – Information Gaps Analysis	September 2001	TR 111
Evaluation of Low Flow Guidelines for Instream Values	June 2001	TR 108
Lake Ngaroto Restoration: A Case Study	June 2001	ME 397
Water Allocation – A Strategic Overview	May 2001	TR 107
Application of the River Ecosystem Management Framework to water allocation management	March 2001	TR 105
Monitoring the Trophic Status of New Zealand’s Lakes	March 2001
New Zealand Periphyton Guidelines: Detecting, Monitoring and Managing Enrichment of Streams	June 2000	ME 359
Information on Water Allocation in New Zealand	April 2000	TR 96
The New Zealand Stream Health Monitoring and Assessment Kit (SHMAK)	1998	(NIWA)
Environmental Performance Indicators: An analysis of potential indicators for freshwater biodiversity	November 1998	TR 48
Environmental Performance Indicators: Summary of Proposed Indicators for Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity	November 1998	ME 299
Environmental Performance Indicators for Groundwater	May 1998	TR 38
Environmental indicators for the sustainable management of fresh water	January 1997	TR 4

Land

Name	Date	Reference
Land use environmental snapshot	January 2010	INFO 472
Soil Health Environmental Snapshot	January 2010	INFO 471
Online publication of the Land Cover Database under a Creative Commons Attribution licence	July 2009
Water Quality in Selected Dairy Farming Catchments: A baseline to support future water-quality trend assessments	July 2009	ME 944
National Soil Quality Review and Programme Design	January 2003	TR 74
Environmental performance indicators: A proposed land indicators framework for Environment Bay of Plenty	May 2002	TR 27
A summary of techniques for measuring soil erosion	November 2001	TR 69
Soil Intactness/ Erosion Monitoring Techniques: A literature review	February 2001	TR 62
A proposal for Land Cover Database 2	June 2000	TR 61
Proposed indicators for erosion-prone hill country in New Zealand	March 1999	TR 53
Trialling environmental performance indicators for arable soils on the Canterbury Plains	June 1998	TR 29
A pilot survey linking stage 1 state and pressure indicators in Bay of Plenty	June 1998	TR 28
Land indicators for national environmental monitoring - Part 7: Summary Report	April 1997	TR 12
Land indicators for national environmental monitoring - Part 6: Prioritisation of land monitoring parameters and indicators	April 1997	TR 11
Land indicators for national environmental monitoring - Part 5: Land monitoring model	April 1997	TR 10
Land indicators for national environmental monitoring - Part 4: Comparison of monitoring approaches	April 1997	TR 9
Land Indicators for national environmental monitoring - Part 3: Evaluation of Taranaki, Otago and land report indicators against policy framework	April 1997	TR 8
Land indicators for national environmental monitoring - Part 2: Proposed monitoring for sustainable land in Otago	April 1997	TR 7
Land indicators for national environmental monitoring - Part 1A: New Zealand Land Resource Inventory	April 1997	TR 6
Land indicators for national environmental monitoring - Part 1: Monitoring sustainable land use in the eastern Taranaki hill country	April 1997	TR 5
Land: Review of international literature, draft framework & indicators	November 1996	TR 35

Oceans

Name	Date	Reference
Environmental report card: Fishing Activity - Fish Stocks	November 2010	INFO 562
Fishing Activity: Seabed Trawling environmental snapshot	March 2010	INFO 482
Environmental report card: Fishing Activity - Fish Stocks	September 2009	INFO 436
Coastal sites recreational water quality reporting	August 2009
Environmental report card: Marine areas with legal protection	December 2008	INFO 353
The New Zealand Marine Environment Classification	June 2005	ME 594
Planning for Climate Change Effects on Coastal Margins	September 2001	ME 410
Confirmed indicators for the marine environment	June 2001	ME 398
An analysis of potential indicators for marine biodiversity	November 1998	TR 44
Environmental Performance Indicators: an analysis of potential indicators for fishing impacts	November 1998	TR 43
Environmental Performance Indicators: Summary of Proposed Indicators for the Marine Environment	November 1998	ME 296
Environmental Performance Indicators: Marine environment potential indicators for physical and chemical processes, and human uses and values	September 1998	TR 45
Potential coastal and estuarine indicators - a review of current research and data	November 1997	TR 40
Monitoring and indicators of the coastal and estuarine environment - a literature review	June 1997	TR 39

RMA Surveys

Name	Date	Reference
RMA Survey of Local Authorities: 2007/2008 survey	June 2009	ME 937
RMA Survey of Local Authorities: 2005/2006 survey	March 2007	ME 797
RMA Survey of Local Authorities: 2003/2004 survey	March 2005	ME 797
RMA Survey of Local Authorities: 2001/2002 survey	June 2003	ME 472
RMA Survey of Local Authorities: 1999/2000 survey	June 2001
RMA Survey of Local Authorities: 1998/1999 survey	July 2000	ME 357
RMA Survey of Local Authorities: 1997/1998 survey	July 1999	ME 320
RMA Survey of Local Authorities: 1996/1997 Survey	June 1998	ME 273

Waste

Name	Date	Reference
Solid Waste Disposal, 2010: Environmental Snapshot	July 2011	INFO 610
Environmental report card: Solid Waste Composition	July 2009	INFO 420
Solid Waste Audits for Ministry for the Environment Data Programme 2007/08	December 2008	CR 56
The 2006/07 National Landfill Census	October 2007	ME 842
Wellington “waste catchment” trial: An investigation into a new model for waste monitoring	April 2007
The 2002 Landfill Review and Audit Report	March 2003	ME 466
Solid Waste Analysis Protocol	March 2002	ME 430
Confirmed indicators for solid waste, hazardous waste and contaminated sites	September 2000	ME 344
The 1998/99 National Landfill Census Report	April 2000	ME 335
Environmental Performance Indicators: Summary of Proposals for Waste, Hazardous Substances and Toxic Contaminants	October 1998	ME 292
The 1995 National Landfill Census - Project update	March 1994	ME 230

Other

Name	Date	Reference
Metadata reports on environmental databases, classification systems and spatial frameworks	Various dates	Various
Ecological Footprints of New Zealand and its Regions	September 2003	TR 130
Environmental Metadata Framework	September 2002	TR 73
Headline indicators for tracking progress to sustainability in New Zealand	March 2002	TR 71
Urban Amenity Trials Report	October 2000	TR 65
Key Urban Amenity Approaches	September 2000	TR 64
Urban Amenity Indicators: The liveability of our urban environments	June 2000	TR 63
Hauraki Customary Indicators Report	June 1999	TR 57
Proposed Approach to Indicators for Urban Amenity	June 1999	TR 54
A Draft Environmental Thesaurus for New Zealand	March 1999	TR 51
Review of Environmental Performance Indicators for Toxic Contaminants in the environment - air, water and land	October 1998	TR 37
The Needs Analysis: Final Report	September 1998	TR 32
Urban Amenity Indicators Workshop Report	July 1998	TR 21
The pilot needs analysis	May 1998	TR25

Best practice guides and guidelines

Name	Date	Reference
New Zealand Guidelines for Cyanobacteria in Recreational Fresh Waters	December 2009	ME 981
Land and soil Monitoring: A guide for SoE and regional council reporting	October 2009	-
Good Practice Guide for Air Quality Monitoring and Data Management 2009	April 2009	ME 933
An Introduction to Drinking Water Contaminants, Treatment and Management	June 2008	CR 45
A Guide to the Ministry of Health Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand	June 2008	CR 44
Proposed National Environmental Standard on Ecological Flows and Water Levels: Discussion Document	March 2008	ME 868
Draft Guidelines for the Selection of Methods to Determine Ecological Flows and Water Levels	March 2008	CR 20
A National Protocol for State of the Environment Groundwater Sampling in New Zealand	December 2006	ME 781
Using the Cultural Health Index: How to assess the health of streams and waterways	February 2006	ME 711
Culvert and Bridge Construction: Guidelines for Farmers	October 2004	ME 549
Monitoring and Data Management Protocol: Environmental Indicators for Transport	May 2004	ME 511
Keeping our coastal waters clean	January 2004	INFO 49
Kaimoana Survey Guidelines for Hapu and Iwi	October 2003	ME 490 ME 490A
Microbiological Water Quality Guidelines for Marine and Freshwater Recreational Areas	June 2003	ME 474
Lake Manager’s Handbook: Fish in New Zealand Lakes	June 2002	ME 445
Lake Manager’s Handbook: Alien Invaders	June 2002	ME 444
Lake Manager’s Handbook: Lake Level Management	June 2002	ME 443
Lake Manager’s Handbook: Land-Water Interactions	June 2002	ME 442
Protocols for sampling macroinvertebrates in wadeable streams	November 2001	-
Managing Waterways on Farms : A guide to sustainable water and riparian management in rural New Zealand	July 2001	ME 385
ANZECC water quality guidelines for fresh and marine water quality	October 2000	-
Stream Periphyton Monitoring Manual	June 2000	SMF 5092
New Zealand Periphyton Guidelines: Detecting, Monitoring and Managing Enrichment of Streams	June 2000	ME 359
Protocol for Monitoring Trophic Levels of New Zealand Lakes and Reservoirs	March 2000	SMF 5090
“Trigger” values for New Zealand rivers	May 2000	-
Using River Habitat Classification in Regional Plans	March 2000	ME 337
The Use of Macroinvertebrates in Water Management	March 1999	ME 311
Flow Guidelines for Instream Values	May 1998	ME270 ME271
Reducing the Impacts of Agricultural Runoff on Water Quality	June 1997	ME 237
Reasonable mixing – A discussion of reasonable mixing in water quality management	August 1994	-
Water Quality Guidelines No.2: Colour and Clarity	June 1994	ME 142
Water Quality Guidelines No.1: Biological Growths	1992	-