Skip to content

2023 News

  1. Trusting their gut

    A hygiene hypothesis that children are more vulnerable to diseases because sterile outdoor play areas lead to a lack of microbe diversity could be a similar factor in struggling Ōkārito kiwi populations.

  2. Working across knowledge systems to co-design workable outcomes

    From the outset, New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge has been committed to reshaping how mātauranga Māori and Western science intersect. How it has gone about this has become a study in itself.

  3. New guidelines suggested for ecosourcing seed

    When it comes to ecological restoration in Aotearoa New Zealand, obtaining plant seeds with a known local wild origin has been widely advocated and practised for the past 50 years.
    This approach, known as ecosourcing, ensures the seeds used for restoration come from nearby areas and maintain the ge...

  4. Celebrating our achievements

    Kara Scally-Irvine (iPEN impact and evaluation specialist), Ross Laurence (iPEN Chair, Maanaki Whenua) and Sue Bidrose (iPEN sponsor, AgResearch CEO and Chair of Science New Zealand).

    The Impact Planning & Evaluation Network (IPEN) includes Manaaki Whenua’s Ross Laurence (chair), Dr Daniel Milosavl...

  5. Our role in cyclone recovery

    Watching the destruction Cyclone Gabrielle wrought across the North Island in February was overwhelming. I grew up in Hawkes Bay and to see from afar my family and friends bear the brunt of the extreme weather was painful. To feel powerless to help in the moment is a truly humbling experience.

  6. Time to build resilience into food production

    In the truest sense of chaos theory, where the flapping of a butterfly’s wings on one side of the world causes a typhoon on the other, our world is so interconnected now that turbulent world affairs and extreme weather events are no longer TV news stories that happen somewhere else to someone else.

  7. Climate-Smart landscapes and healthy diets

    Manaaki Whenua’s research into climate-smart landscapes casts a holistic lens on catchments and regions and the people that inhabit them.

  8. Revolutionising organic waste infrastructure

    Are we spending wisely on our waste? A key investment criteria for councils has been diverting as much organic material from landfill as cheaply and efficiently as possible, which means councils tend to favour large single sites that can process a lot of organic material but are often expensive to b...

  9. 4 per 1000 – can it be done?

    The world’s soils contain 2 to 3 times more carbon than the world’s atmosphere, and have huge potential for carbon storage. The “4 per 1000” initiative, launched by France in December 2015 at COP 21, estimates that if the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) in the top 30-40 cm of the world’s soils c...

  10. What do Māori communities need in the aftermath of extreme weather events?

    Post cyclones, flooding, and devastation – what do Māori communities really need in the aftermath of extreme weather events?