Science Media Centre

UPDATED: Last week, the New Zealand Government announced its intention to make 90 per cent of NZ’s waterways ‘swimmable’ by 2040. Yet with Summer hitting its peak, rivers and lakes are across the country are being closed to swimmers due to toxic algal blooms. The SMC asked Cawthron Institute’s Dr Susie Wood about whether these […]

The national budget announced today introduces a new Freshwater Improvement Fund valued at $100 million.  Over the next 10 years the fund will support initiatives to clean up New Zealand’s rivers, lakes and aquifers. The SMC collected the following commentary. Dr. Marc Schallenberg, Department of Zoology, University of Otago and President of the New Zealand […]

The impacts of climate change are already visible in New Zealand and will get worse unless drastic action is taken to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases, warns a new report from the Royal Society of New Zealand. The report identifies key areas of risk including: coastal margins; flooding from rivers; availability of and competition […]

Stronger rules on farm pollution and a $100 million for cleaning up lakes and rivers are among new initiatives put forward by the Government to improve freshwater management. The measures were announced at the Bluegreens Forum in Tekapo, with a consultation document titled ‘Next steps for fresh water’ released by Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith […]

A report laying bare the science behind New Zealand’s degraded waterways has received wide media coverage and spurred calls for action. The report Water Quality in New Zealand: Understanding the Science, was released by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment , Jan Wright, this week and details the science and history behind New Zealand’s polluted […]

A report that aims to provide scientific context for the divisive issue of water quality in New Zealand is being launched by Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) Jan Wright at an event in Wellington today (20 March). In the report, the PCE states: “Water quality is a subject of high public concern and vigorous […]

Dr Mike Joy, Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Science at Massey University, chastises New Zealand for not walking the talk on environmental standards in an article for the Dominion Post. An excerpt (read in full here): Face the facts – we aren’t so green The enthusiastic response of Kiwis and many Government agencies to […]

Agriculture Minister David Carter today sharply criticised dairy farmers who are failing to meet agreed targets for controlling pollution. His statement comes on the back of a report on progress under the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord issued today by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF). “The data from this year’s snapshot tells a […]