Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand

Coastal Dune Ecosystem Reference Database

Dune extent

Author
Alder A, Berthelsen A
Year
2024
Journal / Source
In: lohrer, d., et al. information stocktakes of fifty-five environmental attributes across air, soil, terrestrial, freshwater, estuaries and coastal waters domains.
Publisher / Organisation
Prepared by NIWA, Manaaki Whenua Landare Research, Cawthron Institute, and Environet Limited for the Ministry for the Environment. NIWA report no. 2024216HN (project MFE24203, June 2024).
Pages
126 - 141
Summary
State of knowledge of the “Dune Extent” attribute: Overall, we consider the state of knowledge for the dune extent attribute to be ‘good / established but incomplete’ (though this may need to be changed to poor / inconclusive or medium / unresolved if considering all dune systems). Internationally and nationally, there is excellent evidence relating dune extent to ecological integrity. New Zealand-specific data that quantifies stressor impacts on ‘dune extent’ and associated ecosystem services are good, and management interventions for coastal dunes are well known (though this may not be the case for volcanic or inland dune systems). Nationally, a standardised protocol for monitoring coastal dune condition exists (which encompasses dune extent), however to our knowledge this has only been adopted for a handful of councils and data on tipping points are lacking. Monitoring of dune extent is not routinely carried out across the country, leading to a lack of national-scale data for comparison of dune extent growth and/or loss.