A vehicle environment monitoring apparatus is equipped with a monitored object detecting unit 26 which detects an object having possibility of contact by applying an object detecting algorithm for short range when the distance calculated from data on one disparity by the first distance calculating unit 24 is equal to or less than a predetermined distance, and detects the object having possibility of contact by applying an object detecting algorithm for long range when the distance is longer than the predetermined distance, using the distance between the object and the vehicle calculated from a disparity gradient by the second distance calculating unit 25.