Lakes380Our lakes health: past, present and future

Overview

With increasing public interest in enhancing and protecting national water quality, it is vital to have information on the pre-human and current health of Aotearoa New Zealand’s lakes. As well as understanding present biodiversity and water quality, the project is exploring how and why lakes have changed over the past 1,000 years, to help understand future changes and guide protection and restoration efforts.

Lakes380: Our lakes’ health – past, present, future is a five-year project led by researchers from GNS Science and the Cawthron Institute. It relies on strong research partnerships, and combines biophysical and social sciences expertise with mātauranga Māori. Lakes380 is the biggest scientific study ever undertaken of New Zealand’s lakes, and the project is globally unique in scale.

The programme aims 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

The project

Providing robust evidence to fill knowledge gaps

Some 50% 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.

Lakes380 is addressing the need for robust evidence by characterising the current and historic health of 10% of our lakes. The information gained through this research will be used to assess water quality, characterise biodiversity, and help prioritise mitigation strategies on a national scale.

Interweaving knowledge systems to enrich understanding

Data from the sediment cores and other samples collected is being interwoven with mātauranga Māori to provide a richer understanding about the value and health of New Zealand’s lakes, as well as the impact of natural and human activity. The project team is working with iwi and hapū in each study region, learning from their mātauranga and oral histories that draw on long associations with the lakes.

Lakes380 has a strong multidisciplinary team of over 70 researchers with expertise in paleolimnology, lake dynamics, social science, Māori environmental and resource management, molecular techniques, geochronology, and climate and environmental change.

GNS Science Staff involved in this research bring expertise in paleoenvironmental reconstruction including paleolimnology, geochronology, and climate and environmental change, mātauranga Māori and Māori environmental and resource management.