Impact 2.2
Whiskey Gulley (Steve Wagstaff).
Opportunities and threats to land resources are recognised and balanced to maintain or enhance the provision of ecosystem services.
Opportunities for improving land and water management have been supported by best available resource data, our innovative modelling and technological approaches, and our frameworks that recognise cultural values in freshwater management. We continued to quantify the potential for increased ground- and fresh-water contamination by nitrates, cadmium and microbes due to the rapid expansion of irrigation and intensified agriculture. Our research on soil and soilwater processes and carbon-nitrogen dynamics supports policy development and management decisions.
We continued to collaborate with other research providers and to share information with end users via the Sustainable Land Use Initiative (SLURI), the Fertiliser and Lime Research Council, Federated Farmers, DairyNZ, IrrigationNZ, the mining sector, the Land Monitoring Forum, Lake Taupo Protection Trust and other similar groups.
Key performance indicator 2.2: Regional councils and the irrigation, pastoral, horticultural and arable sectors are using knowledge of soil variability to improve the match between land-use practices and land capability
Core-funded progress for 2014/15 is reported in the achievements table, particularly under: