Strategic Goal 1: Land Market Leadership

Our objective

Private and public agencies understand LINZ's role in the land market and use our expertise.

Contribution to end outcomes

Certainty of New Zealand's property rights and interests.

Best use of Crown assets.

Contribution to intermediate outcomes

An effective system for defining and transacting land.

Convenient access to integrated land information.

Effective and efficient management of Crown land and liabilities.

High country policy

Why high country policy was a priority

The Crown owns approximately two million hectares of high country land from Marlborough to Southland which is leased or licensed. This land is in addition to all of the land in the conservation estate in the South Island. It is generally more than 600 metres above sea level and is concentrated predominately in Otago and Canterbury. Much of this land comprises pastoral leases. Pastoral leases (of which there are 243 as at 31 June 2008) were established under the Land Act 1948, although land in the South Island high country has been licensed or leased since about 1850. Much of this land is sub-alpine and environmentally fragile. Pastoral land was designated a separate category of land by the Land Act, largely because of its poor condition. This condition reflected the ravages of high rabbit numbers, overgrazing, burning, and erosion.

The Land Act was drafted with the intent of giving lessees an incentive to manage environmental values in an appropriate manner (ie to act as a steward of the land) and to obtain a return on improvements they undertook. This incentive took the form of secure rights to the land (ie a perpetual right of renewal), exclusive occupation of the land, and the right to use the land for pastoral farming.

Ministers have expressed concern about three issues regarding the South Island high country:

• The way in which land is valued for setting rents for pastoral leases. In recent years, the market value of certain land in the high country that is perceived to possess desirable characteristics (eg views) has appreciated substantially. This has led to increased value being derived by lessees from the sale of pastoral leases.
• Whether Tenure Review, as an intervention, adequately protects landscape values – especially around lakesides – and lowland biodiversity within the high country.
• The fact that public access to the high country is not always identifiable. In particular, the current location and extent of marginal strips⁵, and the current practice of identifying marginal strips, are particularly relevant to the Government’s walking access policy.

The activities we said we would undertake in 2007/08

Policy advice, including:

• the valuation methodology for setting rents – developing policy for addressing the implications of the Government's response to the High Country Pastoral Lease Review to ensure that a fair financial return is achieved on the Crown's high country assets
• the identification of marginal strips information – information to make it easier for the public to access high country, one of the Government's high country objectives, and
• greater protection for certain lands (eg landscapes, lakesides and lowland diversity) and improved access to rivers, lakes and public lands.

What we have achieved

Valuation review

In late 2007, the Minister for Land Information released a final report by a panel of senior valuers on pastoral lease rental and Tenure Review valuation methodologies, and an accompanying government policy response. LINZ led the policy analysis for this response.

Because the Government recognised that its response would have an impact on some lessees, LINZ was asked to explore options for addressing the issue of affordability, including remitting rent in return for additional sustainable management contributions – such as pest and weed control – or for improved public access.

During the year, LINZ reported back with options for rent adjustment to address the issue of affordability. As a result, Cabinet agreed to allow the Commissioner of Crown Lands to offer rent adjustment to lessees in appropriate cases and to allow all lessees, whether existing or new, to seek rent adjustment. LINZ developed guidelines for implementing this policy.

Marginal strips

During the year, LINZ developed policy proposals for the identification of marginal strips. We proposed a new process for identifying and graphically depicting marginal strips when any land is disposed of by the Crown. This proposal was accepted by Cabinet. It requires that, when Crown land is sold, waterways must be identified where marginal strips exist.

LINZ has also undertaken a study to determine whether significant existing marginal strips can be identified through satellite imagery and aerial photography. We proposed that decisions about how best to identify existing marginal strips be made in the context of the Government's walking access policy. Advice on this issue is ongoing.

Lakeside protection

Some South Island high country pastoral leases have highly significant lakeside, landscape, biodiversity or other values that the Crown wishes to protect. The Tenure Review process may not protect these values to the satisfaction of the Crown. As a result, the Government directed LINZ and the Department of Conservation (DOC) to identify those pastoral lease properties where the Crown should withdraw from the Tenure Review process (or not enter it).

LINZ and DOC developed policy proposals to give effect to the protection of lakeside properties.

Cabinet subsequently agreed that if lessees agree to specific protections, the associated leased properties could continue with Tenure Review. These protections include lakeside land being retained in Crown ownership or covenanted to restrict subdivision, and significant landscape, biodiversity and access values being protected.

Lands of potential interest

During the year, LINZ was directed by Cabinet to review existing processes for the disposal of Crownowned land. This review was intended to ensure that wider national interests are identified and appropriately protected before Crown-owned land is disposed of.

LINZ led the development of processes that identify land of potential interest and protect it, based on historic heritage, cultural, local, and recreational values. LINZ manages these processes.

Establishing the Geospatial Office

Why establishing the Geospatial Office was a priority

Geospatial information⁶ is important for a wide range of government and private sector activities, including managing hazards and emergencies, planning defence and transport services, managing the environment, settling Treaty of Waitangi claims, and providing health services.

A co-ordinated approach to managing geospatial information increases efficiency and effectiveness and optimises the benefits of public investment in geospatial resources. It reduces duplication, increases awareness of existing information and makes information more usable by ensuring interoperability.

The activities we said we would undertake in 2007/08

• Develop an inter-agency work programme for creating a more co-ordinated approach to managing government's geospatial information resources, involving:
  • developing an all-of-government geospatial policy programme, and
  • determining the initiatives to be undertaken in relation to geospatial datasets critical to the effective running of government, and their order of priority.

What we have achieved

The New Zealand Geospatial Office was created in 2007. Since then, a Geospatial Executives Group has been established, advised by a Geospatial Advisory Group. The Geospatial Advisory Group is an inter-departmental working group tasked with the development of an all-of-government programme.

Following a period of consultation within New Zealand and overseas (including ANZLIC members⁷), the groundwork for the all-of-government programme is now complete, with the work programme expected to be finalised by the end of September 2008.

Oceans Survey 20/20

During 2007/08, the Oceans Survey 20/20⁸ programme supported the New Zealand International Polar Year – Census of Antarctic Marine Life (IPY CAML) project. With funding from Oceans Survey 20/20, the IPY CAML project was a major collaboration between LINZ, the Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Antarctica New Zealand, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand universities, and the Italian Antarctic Programme.

To better understand and protect Antarctica's unique marine environment, New Zealand scientists embarked on a 50-day voyage on the research vessel RV Tangaroa to survey the vast marine environment and explore the variety of life forms in the Ross Sea.

The Antarctic marine environment supports large populations of animals and plants whose lives are highly dependent on the annual cycles of freezing and thawing of sea-ice. It extends in winter to cover huge oceanic areas, and shrinks in summer. This whole dynamic is expected to change with global warming, with unknown effects on the biodiversity. The voyage collected information that can be used as a baseline to monitor future effects of climate change.

With a "biodiversity" focus, the survey took samples from the sea surface to seabed, from mega-size to microscopic, across a wide range of environmental and geographic gradients. This included collecting animal and plant samples and capturing video and still images of the seafloor down to depths of 4,000 metres, in areas not explored before.

The data captured in the voyage will contribute to high-profile environmental issues, particularly climate change and its effects on the Southern Ocean.

The voyage was part of a wider global scientific programme known as International Polar Year (IPY). IPY runs from March 2008 until March 2009, and aims to better understand the land and sea environments of the Arctic and Antarctica and the role they play in influencing climate change. The survey also formed part of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) – a multi-national research project to survey marine ecosystems and habitats around Antarctica, involving 23 countries in 17 co-ordinated voyages.

As a leader in marine research and ecosystem monitoring of the Ross Sea, New Zealand is committed to improving sustainable management of fisheries in the region. The results of this work will support this commitment, and be a critical input to the sustainable management of the fisheries in the region under the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which is part of the Antarctic Treaty System.

5 Marginal strips are strips of Crown-owned land created along certain waterways when the Crown disposes of any Crown-owned land and also when pastoral leases come up for renewal. Marginal strips comprise the borders of rivers and streams that have an average width of three metres or more and the foreshores of lakes. Marginal strips are reserved for conservation and public access purposes.
The fact that a marginal strip exists does not necessarily imply that all marginal strips have been identified, recorded or appear on maps.

6 Geospatial information relates to the location and names of features beneath, on, or above, the surface of the earth. Most human activity depends on geospatial information – on knowing where things are and understanding how they relate to one another. It is part of our daily lives, essential for making decisions on social or environmental issues, for running an election, responding to emergencies, or finding our way across town.

7 The Australia New Zealand Land Information Council, an intergovernmental organisation that provides leadership in the collection, management and use of spatial information in Australia and New Zealand.

8 Oceans Survey 20/20 is a 15-year, LINZ-administered programme that is due to be completed in the year 2020. The programme's goal is to survey the seabed and subsurface, the water column and the atmosphere within New Zealand's marine jurisdiction.