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2020 Newsletters

  1. Are we winning against wildings?

    Invasion by wilding pines is arguably New Zealand’s most serious and intractable weed problem. Wildings have profound impacts on our treasured landscapes and native plants, ecosystem services, economy, and cultural values.

  2. Celebrating our achievements

    Bruce Warburton has been appointed a member of the Game Animal Council by Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation. The Council was established to represent the interests of the hunting sector and improve the management of hunting resources while contributing to positive conservation outcomes. The...

  3. Getting offset, not offside, about native forests

    September 2020 saw the publication of Native Forests: Resetting the Balance, a report by the Aotearoa Circle that explores ways in which we can accelerate the regeneration of native biodiversity at scale while optimising the use of New Zealand’s land assets.

  4. Tracking climate change awareness among rural decision-makers

    Over the coming decades, changes in climate are likely to have serious effects on New Zealand’s productive land environments. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects a 0.8°C increase in temperature by 2040 for New Zealand, as well as more extreme rainfall events and increased d...

  5. Biotic interactions drive ecosystem responses to exotic plant invaders

    Introductions of exotic plants are transforming ecosystems worldwide and altering the ways in which they cycle carbon, but the various mechanisms driving these changes are not well understood.

  6. A new national soil carbon monitoring system for agricultural land

    Every year, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, New Zealand is obliged to report its national human-produced (anthropogenic) greenhouse gas emissions and removals. With average soil carbon stocks in New Zealand’s agricultural soils estimated at ab...

  7. Regen ag: does the science stack up?

    Regenerative agriculture, a term first coined in the 1970s, applies an adaptive ecological approach to agricultural landscape management, with a focus on ecosystem health.

  8. VR experience showcases prehistoric, present and future New Zealand environments

    Taking a virtual step back in time and experiencing untouched prehistoric, present and future New Zealand environments is soon going to be possible.

  9. Decision-making in freshwater management – a social learning approach

    Scientists have long-recognized that one of their biggest challenges is how to translate their recommendations into lasting management and behaviour changes among stakeholders. Individuals or people working in organisations may not be able to make changes easily, owing to a combination of norms and ...

  10. The post-lockdown future of work

    A constant in science is the need to interact with other scientists. New Zealand’s scientists maintain their credibility and skills by working with other science leaders, nationally and globally, and this cannot be done by staying at home. However, the COVID-19 lockdown has challenged our thinking a...