Future Coasts Aotearoa
Future Coasts Aotearoa is a five-year MBIE Endeavour research programme which aims to transform coastal lowland systems threatened by sea-level rise into resilient, prosperous communities. Led by NIWA, this multidisciplinary project combines expertise in indigenous culture, economics, social, and physical science to tackle this important challenge by enhancing the evidence base for sea-level rise risks, building fit-for-purpose & holistic wellbeing evaluation tools and applying the tools in adaptive planning and decision-making frameworks for a range of case study site. For more information see our project page, or the official research page.
Climate Shock Resilience and Adaptation
The Climate Shock Resilience and Adaptation project is funded by the Ministry for Primary Industry’s Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change fund and focuses on the near-term vulnerability of the primary sector to economic shocks due to adverse climate events. Improving our understanding of the plausible range and frequency of adverse climate events, and how they may impact the farming sector, is crucial for proactive adaptation to our changing climate.
Our research hypothesis explores the effects of a suite of climate shock “storylines” on farm systems, the rural economy and stream health and the potential benefits of adaptation options such as on-farm actions and adaptive water resource management frameworks. Visit our project page for further information, and see the list of projects funded by this research here.
Mitigation Effectiveness Monitoring Design
The Mitigation Effectiveness Monitoring Design programme is funded by Our Land and Water, which is part of the National Science Challenge, and seeks to tackle the mismatch between current monitoring network infrastructure and traditional monitoring network design approaches. It considers the requirements for successful mitigation effectiveness monitoring design by researching spatial and temporal water quality variance and developing interactive web tools and guidance for regulatory bodies, communities, and stakeholders.
KSL is leading the groundwater science part of the programme, investigating spatial and temporal variance in groundwater nitrate, and developing numerical and AI models to support the design of successful monitoring networks, improved freshwater quality outcomes, and better mitigation investment decisions. More information can be found on our project page, and on the National Science Challenge research page.
