The value of nations sharing knowledge
International development work
Landcare Research’s work focuses mainly on the New Zealand environment, but we also have a social responsibility to use our expertise to help build capacity and improve the livelihood of developing countries.
This year Landcare Research staff and external consultants were involved in 34 overseas trips for 14 separate projects across 9 countries including New Zealand. The turnover for Landcare Research’s International Business Group (IBG) was $1 million.
Projects that made significant progress this year include:
- Tonga Cyclone Emergency and Risk Management Project
- China Ganzi Hydatid Disease Control and Community Health Education Project
- Mekong Phytosanitary Capacity Building Project
- Research on Resource Competition and the Environment in the Asian Region
- PNG Freshwater Ecology Consultancy
- Pacific Regional Soils Portal
Additionally, two new contracts were won in partnership with MoRST through the New Zealand International Aid and Development Agency (NZAID) Official Development Assistance Contestable Fund, with a third pending final approval. These contracts are for collaborative projects with partners in the Pacific and include plant reference collections, land-use planning and SPACNET (South Pacific Agricultural Chemistry Network).
http://ibg.landcareresearch.co.nz/projects.asp
Help at hand for Fiji’s climate change concerns
In addition, Landcare Research has been contracted by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Programme on a work plan approved by the Global Environmental Facility.
Tourism is the basis of Fiji’s economy, and it is threatened by climate-change-related problems – cyclones and storm surges, and in the long term, sea level rise and coral bleaching. However, work is underway to reduce risks to the industry.
Workshops in Suva have identified urgent policy, technical and capacity-building issues, and initiatives will be implemented such as national disaster management, early-warning systems, and ensuring drinking water supply.
The Fiji work will serve as a pilot study to provide knowledge and experience on adapting to climate change for other island destinations worldwide.
Funding: United Nations World Tourism Organisation
Bavarian forests provide profitable lessons
Researchers have travelled to Bavaria to find out how best to gain income from forests while sustainably managing them.
New Zealand annually imports $360 million worth of furniture timbers, much of it from unsustainably managed tropical forests. A major wealth-creation opportunity exists through building a local industry based on harvest techniques that sustain permanent forests, from a portion of the 1.5 million hectares of privately owned indigenous forests.
Drs Rob Allen and Susan Wiser of Landcare Research, independent forestry consultant Udo Benecke, and Jim Doherty, Tūhoe Tuawhenua Trust chairman, found that high quality timbers could be produced from New Zealand forests using German-inspired systems developed over hundreds of years. These will ensure the forests remain healthy in the long term while allowing economic benefits to be derived from them. Collateral benefits include improved biodiversity and an ongoing carbon sink. In the case of the 500,000 hectares of Māori-owned forest, sustainable approaches could also help maintain vulnerable rural communities. These approaches are now being trialled in New Zealand forests.
Funding: FRST