Emerging Issues – Virtual Water
(PDF, 729 kB)September 2009: An information paper discussing the water content of our agricultural products. New Zealand is a major exporter of virtual water through our agricultural products and our farmers will increasingly need to show that their use of water is sustainable.
Ocean Acidification Workshop
September 2009: Presentations from a combined science-policy workshop to explore ocean acidification. This event followed on from the Emerging Issues – Ocean Acidification paper and brought together scientists and policy-makers to share knowledge of this issue.
Geoengineering no replacement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
(PDF, 407 kB)September 2009: The Royal Society of London released a major report on geoengineering – the science of actively intervening in the climate. The Royal Society of New Zealand commented on the report from a New Zealand context, where proposals for afforestation, biochar and biofuels, and ocean fertilisation are most relevant. However, no proposal is a silver bullet to solve climate change.
Emerging Issues – Ocean Acidification
(PDF, 283 kB)May 2009: Emissions of carbon dioxide are causing the world’s oceans to acidify. This information paper discusses the research on this topic in New Zealand and what this may mean for New Zealand’s ecosystems and offshore industries.
Policy papers span a wide spectrum of requests for information to policies developed by Council. All the resulting papers are intended to both inform policy-makers and be available for public attention
