Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are the main driving force of climate change, and all economic sectors need to internalize their costs. Food systems (including land use, production, refrigeration, food processing) account for a quarter of global GHG emissions. Agricultural exports in Asia-Pacific account for 18% of total exports, twice as …
Māori oral histories from the northern South Island of Aotearoa – New Zealand provide details of ancestral experience with tsunamis. Exchanges with key informants from the Māori kin groups of Ngāti Koata and Ngāti Kuia reveal that these histories, recorded in a narrative form, are not merely another source of …
The people of Kiribati are under pressure to relocate due to sea level rise. New Zealand could introduce a visa to help relocate people affected by climate change. New Zealand’s new government is considering creating a visa category to help relocate Pacific peoples displaced by climate change. The new category …
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 magnitude struck in the remote Southern Ocean south of New Zealand on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake, at a shallow depth of 10 km (6 miles), was recorded 211 km (140 miles) west of the sub-Antarctic …
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A serious bacterial cattle disease has been identified at three more farms in New Zealand, raising the number of affected farms to six, the country’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said on Tuesday. Two of the farms that reported positive results for the Mycoplasma bovis disease belong …
New regulations for New Zealand's fuel specifications will support the growth of lower-emission fuels that are better for people, the environment and cars, Energy and Resources Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Regulations set out minimum standards for fuel performance, and change incrementally over time to keep up with new …
The sale and manufacture of wash-off products containing plastic microbeads will be banned in New Zealand earlier than previously expected, Associate Environment Minister Scott Simpson announced today. "Microbeads pose a high risk to our aquatic and marine environments. They are too small to retrieve or recycle, do not biodegrade, and …
A campaign to plant trees to compensate for the impact of President Trump's climate policies has 120,000 pledges. The project was started by campaigners upset at what they call the president's "ignorance" on climate science. Trump Forest allows people either to plant locally or pay for trees in a number …
Freshwater improvement projects covering over 100 rivers and lakes across New Zealand are to receive grants of $44 million from the Government, Environment Minister Nick Smith announced today. "The Government has an ambitious plan to improve water quality in our rivers and lakes that involves stronger direction to councils, tighter …
Scientists have named the new species the Hoodwinker sunfish or Mola tecta (derived from the Latin word tectus meaning disguised or hidden). The team is yet to determine the Hoodwinker's range, but they have found the fish around New Zealand, off Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales (Australia), …
Australia and New Zealand should allow open migration for citizens of Pacific nations threatened by climate change, to boost struggling island economies and prevent a later mass forced migration, a paper from the World Bank argues. The policy paper, Pacific Possible, suggests as one climate change adaptation measure, open access …
In some parts of the world, proprietorship, price incentives, and devolved responsibility for management, accompanied by effective regulation, have increased wildlife and protected habitats, particularly for iconic and valuable species. Elsewhere, market incentives are constrained by policies and laws, and in some places virtually prohibited. In Australia and New Zealand, …
Indigenous peoples throughout the world have strong connections to the flowing freshwater of rivers. For instance, Maori - the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand - view many rivers as tupuna (ancestors) and invoke the name of a river to assert their identity. There is a deep belief that humans …
A recent decision of the Waitangi Tribunal granted legal personhood to New Zealand’s Whanganui River (appointing guardians to act in its interests). Exploring the impacts of this decision, this column argues that new technologies (such as artificial photosynthesis) may soon be creating policy opportunities not only for legal personhood to …
The Whanganui River is New Zealand’s longest navigable river, stretching for 290km from the slopes of Mount Tongariro to the Tasman Sea. The Whanganui River Deed of Settlement – Ruruku Whakatupua – is the culmination of over a century’s effort by Whanganui Iwi to protect and provide for its special …
Canterbury has been hit by two strong quakes within hours. The 5.2 earthquake caused strong shaking near Cheviot just after 8am. It hit 20km southwest of Cheviot at a depth of 12km and has been described as causing strong, swaying. "Had a real swaying feeling & went for a while," …
The objective of the study is to assess the overall effect of vitamin D supplementation on risk of acute respiratory tract infection, and to identify factors modifying this effect. Original Source
Hundreds of homes have been evacuated in the New Zealand city of Christchurch as a huge wildfire rages on its outskirts. A state of emergency has been declared in the city and neighbouring Selwyn District and the military has been deployed to help firefighters. At least 11 homes have already …
Urgent plea issued for locals to drop work and school commitments and head to the remote beach to save surviving whales. Hundreds of whales have died overnight on a New Zealand beach after a mass stranding thought to be the largest in decades. The Department of Conservation (DOC) discovered 416 …
A sewage leak, which Watercare says was caused by someone flushing wet wipes down the toilet, has left the water in an east Auckland creek black and filled with dead fish and eels. Omaru Creek in Glen Innes was polluted after a sewer pipe started leaking last week. Patrick O'Meara, …
Ironically it drizzled ever so slightly yesterday just as Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy declared that Northland is officially in the grip of its fifth drought in the past eight years. But like almost every drop of rain to fall on the North since mid-November, the rain was gone - …
