Zooming into Version 6 of the Land Cover Database
Even with the science sector in Aotearoa New Zealand undergoing a major rejig this year - see further below - it’s been business-as-usual for such well-known cornerstones of institutionally valuable research as Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research and the suite of resources it makes available to the public and professional practitioners.
An excellent example of this is that, as of October 2025, the latest update to New Zealand's Land Cover Database is now available at LCDB v6.0.
The LCDB is a digital map and multi-temporal thematic classification of the country's land cover, created by analysing satellite imagery. This spatial data set is designed to complement New Zealand’s Topo50 Maps in theme, scale and accuracy.
The first LCDB was based on imagery from the 1996/97 summer, almost 20 years ago. It is updated approximately every five years to show changes over time. The Ministry for the Environment, along with the Ministry for Primary Industries and Department of Conservation. provides support and funding.
Land cover describes the extent of vegetation, built environments, water bodies, and bare natural surfaces across New Zealand. Measuring the composition of land cover and its changes is crucial to help decision-makers understand the pressures that different land uses are placing on our land and waterways, along with the implications for the functioning of ecosystems.
The LCDB is used for a surprising number of applications, from international and national reporting of the state of the environment, through to the production of better maps, forest and shrubland inventory, biodiversity assessment, trend analysis and monitoring of land cover and land use for resource management and planning purposes. For example, it has been used to monitor vegetation changes in catchments, and to decide the amount of bait needed in an area of land for predator control.
Taking a peek at what the latest LCDB update is telling us, experts have noted:
420,000 hectares of change within our exotic forests going through a cycle of harvest and replant.
10,000 additional hectares of urban area, mainly expanding over high-producing grassland.
2,800 hectares of new landslides which have removed approximately 1,500 hectares of indigenous forest and 1,000 hectares of exotic forest.
Other preliminary observations are that growth in the country’s built-up area appears to be at a rate of one to three thousand hectares per year, of which 65–75% is on high-producing pastural land and 8–10% on cropland, orcharding, and other land covers.
Sources of similar information are offered by:
The Our Environment site for its access to the NZ Land Atlas - see here - and New Zealand Landcover Explorer tool - see here.
The Ministry for the Environment’s LUCAS (Land Use and Carbon Analysis System) Land Use Map (LUM). This is produced to keep track of land-use change, especially change in forests.
A page on Indigenous Land Cover on the Statistics NZ site.
In addition Data.govt.nz is a government portal that provides access to the LCDB and encourages user feedback, and the ArcGIS Hub offers access to the data for creating maps, viewing sources, and accessing metadata.
Delving into the changing ‘sciencescape’ of Aotearoa New Zealand
As of 1 July 2025 a refocusing of the science, innovation and technology system by the current government saw existing Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) move into a new era. This ended another chapter in the remarkable story of science in New Zealand, dating back to the days of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the emergence of the CRIs in 1992.
In summary:
The Bioeconomy Science Institute is now an umbrella for Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, AgResearch, Plant & Food Research, and Scion; and
Earth Sciences New Zealand absorbs NIWA and GNS, as well as parts of Callaghan Innovation and ultimately the weather forecaster, MetService
Also on 1 July the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) changed its name to the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science (PHF Science).
The new entities, now known as Public Research Organisations (PROs), remain Crown companies but with a “renewed mandate to deliver economic benefits for New Zealand”. Formal legislation for the PROs will follow in 2026, which is when the Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti expects a fourth organisation, focused on advanced technologies, to be up-and-running.
Announcements of these sweeping changes were made earlier this year by Hon Judith Collins, Dr Reti’s predecessor in the portfolio.