A climate for change
Electric fishing, part of an irrigation feasibility project. Image – Mark Dawson.
New Zealand’s social, cultural and economic well–being is inextricably tied to the state of its natural capital – the irreplaceable biotic and abiotic components and processes that underwrite our way of life, many of our cultural aspirations, and the key industries and services upon which our economy is based. Depletion of our natural capital reduces options for future generations, and threatens the sustainability of our national character, quality of life and well–being. It is imperative that we have the ability to:
- Identify many of the key components of natural capital and understand the inherent processes in order to monitor their state and resilience
- Understand current pressures and potential threats such as invasive species and climate change
- Develop mitigation strategies and technologies
- Recognise opportunities for integrated economic, environmental, social and cultural development
- Ensure the development and uptake of effective stewardship that preserves our natural capital for future generations.
The widespread public debate over global warming has created new awareness of the vulnerability of our natural capital. Climate change has created a climate for change. In this timely new era, Landcare Research has a key role in fostering understanding of the issues and helping New Zealand meet its sustainability challenges. This year we revised our science strategy to reflect this.
Climate change
Climate change is an issue that runs through all our science…from understanding the ecological and anthropogenic processes causing (and in turn affected by) climate change through to the much wider environmental, economic and social implications for natural, productive, urban and business systems.
Science underpins New Zealand’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, develop new mitigation options and adapt to the effects of a changing climate; for example, the likely increase in invasive invertebrates, weeds and diseases, and changing distribution of species across the landscape. Changing climate also brings new opportunities for managing biodiversity and economic development – for example encouraging marginal hill country to regenerate back to native shrubland, which protects catchment headwaters from erosion and enables landowners to obtain an income from sale of carbon credits. This is the basis of our EBEX21® programme and work with Ngāti Porou, who own extensive areas of mānuka and kānuka covered land on the East Coast of New Zealand. The wine industry has been the first to see economic benefits of carbon–neutral exports, and now their lead is being followed by others in the horticultural sector.
However, to take sustainable advantage of opportunities and mitigate risks, we need to understand and quantify the nature of change. Robust data on biophysical functioning of ecosystems and greenhouse gas exchange processes support the development of sophisticated computer models that are essential in analysing ecosystem responses to climate change, feedback effects, and the resilience of natural and managed terrestrial systems.
Our climate change researchers work on methods to quantify and forecast sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), and the effects of land–use change and land management on the terrestrial–atmospheric exchange of these greenhouse gases at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Their work contributes to global programmes, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with former US Vice President Al Gore, for efforts in raising awareness of climate change. Two of our scientists received certificates acknowledging their contribution.
This year, the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) commissioned us to map national land use through remote sensing (aerial and satellite imagery). This inventory establishes the benchmark against which changes to land use and forest carbon stocks will be measured and reported as part of our Kyoto Protocol reporting responsibilities.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) commissioned us to lead a multi–provider programme to understand the changing national status of carbon in vegetation and soils, which is required for the national carbon inventory and to support future negotiations on post–Kyoto emissions reduction targets.
Future reporting requirements of changes in sources and sinks of carbon with land–use change will become more stringent and new process–based research is underway to support these needs. During the year, we commissioned a tuneable diode laser, the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, to gain a better understanding of carbon dynamics at the scale of plants, roots and surrounding soil. Further work for MAF began to assess the albedo effect in New Zealand’s forest carbon inventory. Albedo is reflectance. Dark–leaved forests reflect less solar radiation than the lighter pasture or snowfields the forests may replace. Thus the global cooling effect of carbon storage by forests may be offset by a global warming effect of forests absorbing more solar radiation.
Two of our scientists were asked to establish, facilitate and lead a proposed global denitrification–decomposition (DNDC) network, funded by MAF and Landcare Research. The DNDC model enables NO emissions to be mapped at regional and national scales using data on climate, soils, and management practices, and has been adapted for New Zealand pastoral grazing systems. The NZ–DNDC model was used to map N2O emissions across the Manawatu–Wanganui Region.
Innovative science led by one of our Research Associates is developing filters for removing methane from air (e.g. over dairy shed effluent ponds). These filters comprise methane–destroying bacteria found in New Zealand soils. In this project we have collaborated with the Macaulay Institute in Scotland and a Canadian research group.
A new opportunity, initiated by MAF this year, is the development of the LEARN (Livestock Emissions & Abatement Research Network) programme to improve the quantification of non–CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture at all scales; and to facilitate the development of cost–effective and practical greenhouse gas mitigation solutions. Two of our scientists are contributing to the development of this international network.