The water
Tap water is safe almost everywhere; boil stream water when tramping. Tap water: Drinkable.
New Zealand
The tuatara, the last surviving member of an ancient reptile lineage, found only here.
RegionOceaniaCurrencyNZDPowerType I, 230VTap waterDrinkable
Strong
Eco Index
What to expect on the ground
At a glance
Food & farming
New Zealand is a major net food exporter of dairy, lamb, beef, kiwifruit, apples and wine and is highly self-sufficient in food.
Local staples
Kumara (sweet potato), potatoes, lamb and beef, seafood and shellfish, kiwifruit and apples.
Markets
Weekend farmers' markets in most towns, such as Nelson and Christchurch.
In season
Autumn (February to April) for fruit and wine, with kiwifruit and apples in autumn.
Wildlife
New Zealand has extraordinary endemism, from kiwi, kakapo and kea to the tuatara, with no native land mammals except bats, and it leads the world in predator eradication and island rewilding. That same isolation leaves it with…Read more
New Zealand has extraordinary endemism, from kiwi, kakapo and kea to the tuatara, with no native land mammals except bats, and it leads the world in predator eradication and island rewilding. That same isolation leaves it with one of the longest lists of threatened birds anywhere.
Found nowhere else
Kiwi, kakapo, tuatara, kea and weta, with no native land mammals except bats.
Natural phenomena
Four seasons in a day, strong UV; the alpine passes need caution in winter.
When to go
Summer and early autumn.
Getting around
Self-drive or campervan, domestic flights, and the Cook Strait ferry between the islands.
Good to know
Cards everywhere; NZD. Drive on the left; give way to campervans.
Safety
Solo female travel: Easy. LGBTQ+: High.
Only hereThe tuatara, the last surviving member of an ancient reptile lineage, found only here.
Assessed across 10 equally-weighted pillars
The Eco Index, pillar by pillar
80/100
Strong
The Eco Index: New Zealand
12 pillars, equally weighted, from published sources. All 12 assessed. Blanks mean unverified, never estimated.
Only here The tuatara, the last surviving member of an ancient reptile lineage, found only here.
- Forest cover
- 37.8%
- Land protected
- 33.4%
- Sea protected
- 30.4%
- Organic farmland
- 0.8%
- Found nowhere else
- Kiwi, kakapo, tuatara, kea and weta, with no native land mammals except bats.
- Renewable power
- 89%
- CO2 per person
- 6.23 tonnes (2024) t
- Air quality (AQI)
- 5.1
- Cleanest air
- Fiordland and the Southern Alps.
- Water from
- Tap water is safe almost everywhere; boil stream water when tramping.
- Tap water
- Drinkable
- Safe drinking water
- 100%
- Cleanest water
- Te Waikoropupu (Pupu) Springs, among the clearest freshwater on Earth.
- Springs
- Rotorua and Hanmer Springs geothermal pools.
- In season
- Autumn (February to April) for fruit and wine, with kiwifruit and apples in autumn.
- Plastic ban
- Single-use plastic bags banned in 2019, with further single-use plastics phased out through 2022 and 2023.
- Watch out for
- Intensive dairy farming and its freshwater nitrate run-off.
- Solo female travel
- Easy
- LGBTQ+ acceptance
- High
- Best months
- December to April, with skiing July to September.
- Getting around
- Self-drive or campervan, domestic flights, and the Cook Strait ferry between the islands.
- Power
- Type I, 230V
- Currency
- NZD
| Pillar | Score | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| WaterWhere the water comes from, and whether there is enough of it | 5/5 | New Zealand has abundant alpine rivers, lakes, snowmelt and aquifers, and about 100% of people use safely managed drinking water (World Bank, 2020). Full assessmentThe 2016 Havelock North campylobacter outbreak drove major drinking water reform, and dairy intensification has raised nitrate levels in many lowland rivers, but overall supply security is very high. |
| Food and farmingWhat the island actually grows, and what arrives by boat | 5/5 | New Zealand is a major net food exporter of dairy, lamb, beef, kiwifruit, apples and wine and is highly self-sufficient in food. |
| Plant based and real foodWhether you can eat unprocessed from local supply | 3/5 | Wellington and Auckland have a lively and growing plant-based scene, but the national food culture is strongly built on meat and dairy. |
| OrganicCertified and chemical free growing, which is not the same thing as plant based | 2/5 | Certified organic land is about 0.8% of farmland (FiBL, 2020), a small but export-focused and growing sector. |
| ConservationWhat is protected, and whether protection is enforced | 5/5 | About a third of the country, some 33.4% of the land, is protected conservation estate managed by the Department of Conservation (World Bank, 2024), backed by the Predator Free 2050 program… Full assessmente, fenced ecosanctuaries and offshore island refuges. The roughly 30% marine protected figure is mostly benthic protection area, however, and true no-take marine reserves cover well under 1%. |
| Wildlife and endemicsWhat lives here and nowhere else on earth | 3/5 | New Zealand has extraordinary endemism, from kiwi, kakapo and kea to the tuatara, with no native land mammals except bats, and it leads the world in predator eradication and island rewilding. Full assessmentThat same isolation leaves it with one of the longest lists of threatened birds anywhere. |
| Natural materialsWhat you can eat from and carry here instead of plastic, and who still makes it | 3/5 | A living wool tradition in merino and strong wool runs alongside Maori harakeke flax weaving, known as raranga, and possum-merino craft, all still made today. |
| Pollution and plasticPlastic law and contamination | 5/5 | New Zealand banned single-use plastic shopping bags in 2019 and phased out further single-use plastics through 2022 and 2023, and its air is among the cleanest measured at about 5.1 microgr… Full assessmentms per cubic metre PM2.5 (IQAir, 2025), though rural waterways carry farm run-off and some inland towns get winter woodsmoke. |
| Recycling and wasteWhat actually happens to the rubbish once you have thrown it away | 3/5 | Kerbside recycling is modest and New Zealand sends a high volume of waste to landfill per person, among the higher rates in the developed world. |
| Energy and climateClean power, carbon emissions per person and the pace of decarbonisation | 4/5 | New Zealand generated about 85.5% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2024, chiefly hydropower, geothermal and a fast growing wind fleet, according to the government's Energy in Ne… Full assessmentZealand 2025 report. Its carbon dioxide emissions were roughly 6.23 tonnes per person in 2024, a moderate figure lifted by transport and by a dry hydro year that raised coal use. The Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019 legislates net zero for long lived greenhouse gases by 2050 and the country runs an Emissions Trading Scheme. Gross emissions remain high once agricultural methane is counted, which tempers the score despite the clean grid. |
| Culture and peopleIndigenous and living communities, and who the money reaches | 5/5 | Maori culture is living and central, with iwi co-governance of conservation, legal personhood granted to the Whanganui River, the guardianship ethic of kaitiakitanga and a strong Maori-led … Full assessmentourism sector that keeps benefits with communities. |
| Living heritage and ancestral traditionsNational dance and music, and the ancestral and spiritual traditions still practised | 5/5 | Maori living culture sits at the centre of national life, from the haka and kapa haka performance to waiata song, poi and the carved marae that anchor communities. Full assessmentAncestral knowledge, matauranga Maori, and living spirituality through karakia, whakapapa and a deep relationship to land and ancestors remain widely honoured. The Maori language, te reo, is an official language in active revitalisation, taught in kohanga reo and celebrated nationally. Pacific Island communities add further living dance and music traditions to the cultural landscape. |
Before you go
Cards everywhere; NZD. Drive on the left; give way to campervans.
Where these figures come from
- World Bank, Forest area (% of land area) AG.LND.FRST.ZS, 2023 — source
- World Bank, Terrestrial protected areas (% of land area) ER.LND.PTLD.ZS, 2024 — source
- World Bank, Marine protected areas (% of territorial waters) ER.MRN.PTMR.ZS, 2021 — source
- Low Carbon Power, New Zealand electricity mix (hydro 58%, geothermal 22%, wind 9%), 2025 — source
- World Bank, People using safely managed drinking water services (% of population) SH.H2O.SMDW.ZS, 2020 — source
- IQAir, World Air Quality Report annual PM2.5, 2025 — source
- FiBL, The World of Organic Agriculture (via Organic farming by country), 2020 — source
- Wikipedia, Phase-out of lightweight plastic bags (New Zealand ban 2019) — source
- Our World in Data, CO2 emissions per capita, 2024 source
- Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Energy in New Zealand 2025, 2025 source
- Wikipedia, Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019 source
- Wikipedia, Predator Free 2050 source
- Wikipedia, Kapa haka source
Living heritage and ancestral traditions
The culture still danced, played and believed
Maori living culture sits at the centre of national life, from the haka and kapa haka performance to waiata song, poi and the carved marae that anchor communities. Ancestral knowledge, matauranga Maori, and living spirituality through karakia, whakapapa and a deep relationship to land and ancestors remain widely honoured. The Maori language, te reo, is an official language in active revitalisation, taught in kohanga reo and celebrated nationally. Pacific Island communities add further living dance and music traditions to the cultural landscape.
- Haka and kapa haka
- waiata and poi
- whakairo carving and raranga flax weaving
- marae protocol and karakia
- matauranga Maori ancestral knowledge
- te reo Maori revitalisation
- Pasifika dance and music.
Sleep well, tread lightly
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