Land resources
Outcome Sustainable use of land resources and their ecosystem services across catchments and sectors
Rationale
Land resources include the soil’s dynamic physical, chemical and biological ‘systems’, and the land cover, topography and hydrology in which the soil is situated. Land resources sustain the essential services such as primary production, ecosystem services (e.g. clean water, fertile soils) and aesthetic benefits upon which New Zealand’s economy, identity and brand are based. Achieving the appropriate management of these resources is a major economic opportunity for New Zealand.
Effective management of land resources requires improved knowledge of their variability and change over time and across catchments and landscapes (natural, managed and urban), their response to human impacts, and potential environmental limits. Improving knowledge assets will help ensure land and its ecosystem services are sustainably allocated and used.
Impacts
- The status and trends of land resources and ecosystem services (including their interactions) are known and understood.
- Opportunities and threats to land resources are recognised and balanced to maintain or enhance the provision of ecosystem services.
Core Expertise
- Soil characterisation, soil functions and processes
- Land–use capability and impacts
- Integrated catchment management and hydrology
- Erosion processes
- Nutrient and contaminant fate
- Land and soil informatics, including remote sensing
- Ecosystem services
- Resource economics and policy
- Mātauranga Māori and societal values in land resource decision–making