Land database investment welcomed
11 August 2011
New Zealand’s Regional Councils and Unitary Authorities welcome the Ministry of Science and Innovation’s announcement
that the Government will invest $1 million a year into a four-year Land Cover Research Programme that will update the
country’s land cover database.
Gary Bedford, Director-Environment Quality for the Taranaki Regional Council and Chairman of the combined councils'
Science Advisory Group, says: “The decision will be well supported by all councils as the current Land Cover Database is
a nationally important source of data for councils to monitor and manage land cover, land use and land use change.
"An updated database will be valuable to support council policy setting and for State of the Environment monitoring and
reporting.
"Technology has advanced considerably in recent years and we are pleased that Landcare Research is able to apply advance
satellite technology along with new geospatial mapping techniques to provide a tool that will be even more useful to
councils than the previous versions," says Mr Bedford.
"Water resources, soil and biodiversity are under increasing pressure from land use intensification throughout New
Zealand. Up-to-date and accurate land cover data will provide improved and welcome information to drive many of the
models that council staff rely on to help them make decisions.”
ENDS