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Soil coring on agricultural land.

Benchmark results from the national soil carbon monitoring system for agricultural land in New Zealand

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is critical to soil health. It’s the basis of the soil food web and it plays an important role in maintaining s...

carbon stocks in pasture

The effect of rising CO2 levels on carbon stocks in pasture and forest ecosystems

Primarily as a result of fossil fuel burning, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere continues to rise far above pre-industrial concentratio...

Post-pine projects th

He Ngahere, He Korowai: Resilient land use strategies for whenua Māori

Focssing on resilient landscapes on highly erosion-prone whenua Māori (Māori land) for future generations

kaitiakitanga responsibilities

Recognising kaitiakitanga responsibilities in climate change resilience

There is a Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligation on the part of agencies and institutions, including local and central government, to include m...

  1. He Whenua Kanorau, He Whenua Manawaroa: Diverse and resilient landscapes

    Examining the social, cultural and historical factors that impede transitioning towards more diverse whenua Māori.

  2. Moving the Middle – a progress report

    Aiming to give rural land managers greater confidence to improve their environmental performance voluntarily

  3. Agents of change

    This research area looks at a wide range of different agents of positive environmental change on land. It is particularly interested in potentially powerful, but indirect change agents, such as artists, who influence what happens on the land. Our research investigates what such agents do and how it ...

  4. How schools help influence positive environmental activity on land

    Schools and their teachers play an important role in building foundational skills that will support pro-environmental activity throughout life.

  5. Strategic, tactical, complex, and simple: a four-way schema for measuring on-farm change

    In the face of climate and other environmental change, regulatory and economic changes, farmers are always under pressure to redesign and improve their systems and to adopt new practices. Some change in practice (e.g. doing something completely different to existing ways) are more complex than other...

  6. Tell us what you want, what you really, really want

    Surveys that include measures of people’s well-being are widely used at the national scale to measure social progress and to inform environmental, social and economic decision-making. Well-being frameworks generally encompass aspects of housing, income, personal health, access to green space and rec...

  7. Survey of Rural Decision Makers 2025: a vital tool in the ag-sector toolbox

    The Survey of Rural Decision Makers is the leading source of information about New Zealand’s primary sector. Conducted every 2 years, thousands of farmers, foresters, growers, and lifestyle block owners from Cape Reinga / Te Rereanga Wairua to Halfmoon Bay complete the survey.

  8. Turn and face the change: what drives primary sector risk-taking?

    The future importance of transformative adaptations in the face of climate, technological, economic and other future changes is familiar rhetoric – including in the primary sector.

  9. Transforming Pacific agriculture for a resilient future

    In April 2025 the cross-party New Zealand Government 2025 Pacific Mission visited Tonga, announcing the MFAT-funded CALM programme (Climate Smart Agriculture and Sustainable Land Management). Tonga, alongside Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, Niue, and the Cook Islands, is partnering with Manaaki Whenua on the ...

  10. Separating truth from fiction in AI

    Did you see the US election images of Swifties for Trump? Hear Sir David Attenborough narrating the moment an ant falls into someone’s fish tank? Or the talkshow clip of Greta Thunberg – yes, her! – talking about vegan grenades? Unbelievable!
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