Physical geography
Overview
New Zealand is located in theExtreme points
The phrase "From Cape Reinga to The Bluff" is frequently used within New Zealand to refer to the extent of the whole country.Antipodes
New Zealand is largely antipodal to theGeology
New Zealand is part ofMountains, volcanoes and glaciers
The South Island is much more mountainous than the North, but shows fewer manifestations of recent volcanic activity. There are 18 peaks of more than in the Southern Alps, which stretch for down the South Island. The closest mountains surpassing it in elevation are found not in Australia, but inCaves
New Zealand's cave systems have three main origins, the chemical weathering of limestone by water (Rivers and lakes
The proportion of New Zealand's area (excludingCoastal wetlands
Wetlands support the greatest concentration of wildlife out of any other habitat. New Zealand has six sites covering almost that are included in theClimate
The main geographic factors that influence New Zealand's climate are the temperateHuman geography
Political geography
New Zealand has no land borders. However, the Ross Dependency, its claim in Antarctica, notionally borders the Australian Antarctic Territory to the west and Marie Byrd Land, unclaimed territory to the east. Most other countries do not recognise territorial claims in Antarctica. New Zealand wikt:proper, proper is divided administratively into regions of New Zealand, sixteen regions: seven in the South Island and nine in the North. They have a physical geographical link with regional boundaries being based largely on drainage basins. Among the regions, eleven are administered by regional authorities (top tier of local government in New Zealand, local government), while five are unitary authorities that combine the functions of regional authorities and those of territorial authorities (second tier). Regional authorities are primarily responsible for environmental resource management, land management, regional transport in New Zealand, transport, and biosecurity and pest management. Territorial authorities administer local roading and reserves, waste management, building consents, the land use and subdivision aspects of resource management, and other local matters. The Chatham Islands is not a region, although its council operates as a region under the Resource Management Act 1991, Resource Management Act. There are a number of outlying islands that are not included within regional boundaries. The Kermadec Islands, Kermadecs and the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands, Subantarctic Islands are inhabited only by a small number of New Zealand Department of Conservation, Department of Conservation staff.Population geography
The South Island contains a little under one-quarter of the population. Over three-quarters of New Zealand's population live in the North Island, with half living north of Lake Rotorua, and one-third of the total population living in the Auckland Region. Auckland is also the fastest growing region, accounting for 51% of New Zealand's total population growth (in the two decades up to 2016). The majority of the indigenous Māori people live in the North Island (87%), although a little under a quarter (24%) live in Auckland. New Zealand is a predominantly urban country, with % of the population living in an urban areas of New Zealand, urban area. About % of the population live in the 20 main urban areas (population of 30,000 or more) and % live in the four largest cities ofAgricultural geography
A relatively small proportion of New Zealand's land is arable land, arable (1.76 percent), and permanent crops cover 0.27 percent of the land. of the land is irrigation, irrigated. As the world's largest exporter of sheep, New Zealand's agricultural industry focuses primarily on pastoral farming, particularly dairy and beef, as well as lambs. Dairy, specifically, is the top export. In addition to pastoral farming, fisherman harvest mussels, oysters and salmon, and horticulture farmers grow kiwifruit, as well as peaches, nectarines, etc. New Zealand's distance from world markets and spatial variation in rainfall, elevation and soil quality have defined the geography of its agriculture industry. As of 2007, almost 55 percent of New Zealand's total land area was being used for farming, which is standard compared to most developed countries. Three-fourths of it was pastoral land using for raising sheep, beef, deer, etc. The amount of farmland has decreased since 2002. New Zealand's isolated location has simultaneously led to fewer Pest (organism), pests and an agriculture industry with a greater susceptibility to introduced diseases and pests. A major concern for New Zealand farmers is the rapidly growing wild rabbit population. Wild rabbits have been an agricultural since their introduction to the country in the 1930s. They cause significant damage to farm lands: eating the grass, crops, and causing soil retrogression and degradation, soil degradation. Many farmers are worried about their livelihoods and the effects that the rabbits will have on food supply and trade, as their numbers are quickly growing out of control. An illegal rabbit-killing virus called the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) was released in 1997 by a group of vigilante farmers, and was very effective initially. After twenty years, however, the rabbits became immune to it. A new strain of the virus was released in March 2018, a Korean form of the strain called the K5 virus, or RHDV1-K5. This virus was introduced with the goal of exterminating 40 percent of the rabbit population. The new virus works much faster than the last one, expected to kill rabbits within two to four days of exposure. The virus has become a subject of debate among animal rights activists, due to the inhumane manner in which it kills the rabbits. However, farmers unanimously seem to be very grateful for the release of the virus. Almost half of New Zealand's climate change emissions are generated by greenhouse gases, mainly methane and nitrous oxide, which come from farming and agriculture. Organisms that grow inside of grazing animals' stomachs turn New Zealand's grass into methane. The increase of carbon dioxide in the air helps the plants to grow faster, but the long-term effects of climate change threaten farmers with the likelihood of more frequent and severe floods and droughts. Kiwifruit industry in New Zealand, Growers of kiwifruit, a major export in the horticulture industry of New Zealand, have experienced difficulties as a result of climate change. In the 2010s, warm winters did not provide the adequate cool temperatures needed for the flowering of kiwifruit, and this resulted in a reduction of the yield sizes. Droughts have also decreased apple production by causing sunburns and a lack of water available for irrigation. In contrast, the Dairy farming in New Zealand, dairy industry has not been affected, and has actually adjusted well to the effects of climate change.Natural hazards
Flooding is the most regular natural hazard. New Zealand is swept by weather systems that bring heavy rain; settlements are usually close to hill-country areas which experience much higher rainfall than the lowlands due to the Orographic precipitation, orographic effect. Mountain streams which feed the major rivers rise rapidly and frequently break their banks covering farms with water and silt. Close monitoring, weather forecasting, wikt:stopbank, stopbanks, dams, and reafforestation programmes in hill country have ameliorated the worst effects. New Zealand List of earthquakes in New Zealand, experiences around 14,000 earthquakes a year, some in excess of earthquake magnitude, magnitude 7 (M7). Since the 2010, several large (M7, M6.3, M6.4, M6.2) and shallow (all <7 km) earthquakes have occurred immediately beneath Christchurch. These have resulted in 185 deaths, widespread destruction of buildings and significant liquefaction. These earthquakes are releasing distributed stress in the Pacific plate from the ongoing collision with the Indo-Australian plate to the west and north of the city. Volcanic activity is most common on the central North Island Volcanic Plateau. Tsunamis affecting New Zealand are associated with the Pacific Ring of Fire. Droughts are not regular and occur mainly in Otago and the Canterbury Plains and less frequently over much of the North Island between January and April. Forest fires were rare in New Zealand before the arrival of humans. During a designated summer season, lighting a fire in the open is banned on public conservation land.Environment and ecology
New Zealand's geographic isolation for 80 million years and island biogeography has influenced evolution of the country's species of fauna, animals, fungus, fungi and flora, plants. Physical isolation has not caused biological isolation, and this has resulted in a dynamic evolutionary ecology with examples of very distinctive plants and animals as well as populations of widespread species. There has been long-distance dispersal of plant life between mainland Australia and New Zealand, despite the separation. Evergreens such as the giant kauri and southern beech dominate the bush (native forests). The country also has a list of birds of New Zealand, diverse range of birds, several of which are flightless such as the Kiwi (bird), kiwi (a national symbol), the kākāpō, the takahē and the weka, and several species of penguins. Around 30 bird species are currently listed as endangered or critically endangered. Conservationists recognised that threatened bird populations could be saved on offshore islands, where, once predators were exterminated, bird life flourished again. Many bird species, including the giant moa, became extinct after the arrival of Polynesians, who brought dogs and rats, and Europeans, who introduced additional dog and rat species, as well as cats, pigs, ferrets, and weasels. Native flora and fauna continue to be hard-hit by Invasive species in New Zealand, invasive species. New Zealand conservationists have pioneered several methods to help threatened wildlife recover, including island sanctuaries, pest control, wildlife translocation, fostering, and ecological island restoration, restoration of islands and ecological island, other selected areas. Massive Deforestation in New Zealand, deforestation occurred after humans arrived, with around half the forest cover lost to fire after Polynesian settlement. Much of the remaining forest fell after European settlement, being logged or cleared to make room for pastoral farming, leaving forest occupying only 23% of the land. New Zealand had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.12/10, ranking it 55th globally out of 172 countries. Pollution in New Zealand, Pollution, particularly Water pollution in New Zealand, water pollution, is one of New Zealand's most significant environmental issues. Fresh water quality is under pressure from agriculture, hydropower, urban development, pest invasions and climate change, although much of the country's household and industrial waste is now increasingly filtered and sometimes recycled.Protected areas
Some areas of land, the sea, rivers or lakes are protected area, protected by law, so their special plants, animals, landforms and other distinctive features are sheltered from harm. New Zealand has three List of World Heritage Sites in Oceania, World Heritage Sites, 13 national parks of New Zealand, national parks, 34 marine reserves of New Zealand, marine reserves, and thousands of scenic, historic, recreation and other reserves. The Department of Conservation (New Zealand), Department of Conservation is responsible for managing 8.5 million hectares of public land (approximately 30% of New Zealand's total land area).Environmental agreements
New Zealand is party to several multilateral environmental agreements. The major agreements are listed below. * Antarctic-Environmental Protocol * Antarctic Treaty * Basel Convention * Convention on Biological Diversity * Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species * International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships * United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification * London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, London Dumping Convention * Kyoto Protocol * Minamata Convention on Mercury * Environmental Modification Convention * Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Nouméa Convention * Ramsar Convention * Rotterdam Convention * United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea * International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994 * Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants * United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change * Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer * Waigani Convention * International Convention for the Regulation of WhalingPopular culture
New Zealand's varied landscape has appeared in television shows, such as ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' and ''Xena: Warrior Princess''. An increasing number of feature films have been shot on location in New Zealand for its scenery, including the The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. New Zealand is often mistakenly omitted from world maps due to the country's physical geographic isolation, relatively small size (compared to Australia), and its positioning on the extreme bottom-right in many maps projections such as the Mercator projection, Mercator. The phenomenon has been popularly referenced and has a dedicated Reddit forum.See also
* Archaeology of New Zealand * Natural history of New Zealand * Geography of South Island * Geography of North IslandReferences
External links