This report is a synthesis report – bringing together all the domain reports to help people step inside and view New Zealand's environment as a whole, in all its complexity.

This report has three main parts:

• ‘About Environment Aotearoa 2019’ helps to orient people and explain New Zealand's environment.
• The second part ‘Themes and issues’ uses five themes to present nine priority environmental issues.
• The last part ‘Towards a better understanding of our environment’ sets out the challenges New Zealanders must overcome so future decisions about the environment are as effective as they can be.