This report proposes a New Zealand specific land-use classification system, adapted from the Australian Land Use and Management Classification system. Currently, New Zealand does not have a unified land-use classification system, and land cover is often used as a proxy.
This report proposes a New Zealand specific land-use classification system, adapted from the Australian Land Use and Management Classification system. Currently, New Zealand does not have a unified land-use classification system, and land cover is often used as a proxy.
Land use classification systems have been suggested and used on a small scale, but often these do not serve national requirements, and there is disagreement between these systems. This causes inconsistency and an inability to directly compare land use across New Zealand.
A unified national land-use classification framework would improve our knowledge of land management, and enable consistent and rigorous information to be collected and shared nationally relating to land management, soil quality, freshwater quality and natural disaster risk management.
The report highlights that consultation and engagement with iwi/Māori needs to take place to ensure a system(s) that accurately reflects the te ao Māori perspective of land use, and an engagement plan is included in the report. No targeted engagement with iwi/Māori was part of the development of this report as developing a plan for engagement was determined to be a necessary first step.
The main output of this report is a two-pronged system of land use classification, to serve the immediate need for a classification framework, and to provide an overarching system of classification that can be used to extend to new classes or land uses to achieve cohesion with the established system.