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08 July 2025, 5:00 pm
Horizons Regional Council has released 'Te Oranga o te Taiao State of the Environment: Horizons Region 2025', a comprehensive environmental data synthesis report that outlines the current state and trends of the region's air, land, and water.
The report also identifies the key influences shaping environmental outcomes in our region and highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with ensuring the health and wellbeing of the environment. "One of our core functions as a regional council is to provide a comprehensive and reliable evidence base to guide decision-making and policy development that leads to effective environmental stewardship," says lead author and Horizons science communicator Rhianne Tod. "This report aims to facilitate informed conversations, from governance to grassroots, about the key issues at play in the region and actions moving forward. In this respect, the data and insights presented are both markers of where we are and where we've come from, as well as signposts guiding us toward where we need to go," says Ms Tod. Nature’s contributions to people, also referred to as ‘ecosystem services’, are woven through the report, reflecting a shift to a more holistic way of presenting Horizons' environmental reporting. This shift aligns with the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s 2019 comments about improving environmental reporting, which emphasised that we gather information about the natural environment for the same reason we track the economy, education, or public health – because these things are essential to our wellbeing. “The links between nature and people’s wellbeing represent a crucial data and knowledge gap in environmental monitoring, and researchers and policy-makers across the country are investigating how to effectively track them to support decision-making and stewardship of the environment,” says Ms Tod. One of the ways the report considers this is by featuring the winning and highly commended entries from Horizons' 2024 Creative Arts Competition, which invited submissions highlighting how the region's environment contributes to the wellbeing of our people. "The creative works included in the report showcase the deep personal and cultural connections our communities have with nature and serve as a powerful reminder of the impact of the environment on our wellbeing. These examples of nature's contributions to people emphasise why everyone across the region is a stakeholder in the environment's health. “The report reaffirms the complexity of the region's environment and the pressures it faces – it’s not just a backdrop to human activity, but an interconnected system that supports and shapes almost every aspect of our lives.” A digital copy of the full report is now available on the Horizons website. Hard copies will soon be available to view at Horizons service centres. View the full report online: https://www.horizons.govt.nz/HRC/media/Media/State-of-the-Environment-Horizons-Region-2025.pdf Access a print-friendly version of the report: https://www.horizons.govt.nz/HRC/media/Media/State-of-the-Environment-Horizons-Region-2025-Print.pdf Editor’s notes Key highlights of the report Air Quality: The region generally enjoys good air quality, enabled by prevailing winds, low population, and a small number of industrial emissions. However, wintertime emissions from woodburners remains an area of concern. The introduction of 42 electric buses in Palmerston North and Ashhurst has helped reduce vehicle emissions, marking a milestone in sustainable transport. Land Health: The report underscores the importance of soil health, erosion control, and biodiversity protection. Programmes, like the Sustainable Land Use Initiative (SLUI) which has led to the planting of 30 million trees and the completion of 65,000 hectares of erosion control works, are estimated to reduce the amount of sediment entering waterways by 48% by the end of the century. Water Quality: While improvements in ammoniacal nitrogen levels are evident, challenges persist with nutrient concentrations and sediment loads in the region's waterways. The report highlights collaborative efforts to improve water quality, such as riparian planting and fencing. Freshwater Habitats: The report documents the state of rivers and streams as habitat, and the state of fish populations. The report also covers work by Horizons and communities to remediate over 100 fish passage barriers and reopen nearly 300km of habitat to native fish. Cyclone Gabrielle Case Study: The report examines the widespread impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle, emphasising the need for resilience-building and collaborative recovery efforts. Further information The Horizons Region extends over 22,000 km2, from Ruapehu in the north and Horowhenua in the south to Whanganui in the west and Tararua in the east. Our rohe (region) is home to more than 250,000 people, and includes over 180 lakes, 40 estuaries, the Central Plateau, and the largest portion of hill country area in Aotearoa New Zealand. Monitoring and reporting on the state of the environment is a key function required of regional councils under the Resource Management Act and the Local Government Act. Horizons’ last state of the environment synthesis report was released in 2019.