Lakes
Many of Aotearoa New Zealand’s lakes are deteriorating in health, yet our ability to make informed assessments at a national level is hampered by a lack of critical knowledge about their current and historic health.
Little is known about our lakes
Some 50 per cent of New Zealand’s lowland lakes are deteriorating in health, but most attempts to improve water quality in our lakes have failed or require costly ongoing maintenance. Without information about our lakes’ current and historic health we can’t make informed assessments at a national level, design effective restoration programmes, or plan for future changes.
We aim to:
- characterise present lake health, biodiversity and water quality
- gather evidence about past changes in lake health
- help identify lakes that need protection, and help guide future restoration efforts
- interweave scientific data with mātauranga Māori to enrich understanding of lake health and value.
Our expertise
- paleoenvironmental reconstruction
- paleolimnology
- geochronology
- Climate and environmental change
- Mātauranga Māori
- Māori environmental and resource management.
