| To help
provide the research necessary to better understand and
manage our marine and freshwater environments, NIWA has
established the
National Centre for Aquatic
Biodiversity and Biosecurity. The Centre will
help increase awareness of aquatic biodiversity and
biosecurity issues facing New Zealand.
“A key role of the National
Centre is to communicate,” says Centre Coordinator Dr
Wendy Nelson, “so we can better target and deliver high
quality research and improve collaboration between
government agencies, regional and district councils, iwi,
industry, and science organisations”.
NIWA is New Zealand’s
major provider of aquatic biodiversity and biosecurity
research and consultancy services. The new Centre will
help combine this research capability with expertise
from other institutions to better serve the objectives
of the NZ Biodiversity Strategy, and the upcoming
Biosecurity Strategy.
The Biodiversity
Strategy, launched by the Prime Minister in February
2000, was a significant milestone in New Zealand’s
approach to environmental management – aquatic and
terrestrial. The strategy provides a framework for
assessing the status of aquatic species and their
responses to human interventions, the inventory of
living aquatic resources, and the assessment and
management of established or newly arriving alien
species that might threaten aquatic biosecurity.
To help the public,
government agencies, and the science community keep
abreast of developments, the National Centre will report
research and issues in its quarterly newsletter
Aquatic Biodiversity & Biosecurity.
The first issue of the newsletter was published today
and is available on the Centre’s webpage:
www.niwa.co.nz/ncabb.
Staff from the Centre
will further communicate biodiversity and biosecurity
issues by meeting directly with interested parties.
Contact
For further
information contact:
Dr Wendy Nelson
Phone +64-4-386 0600
w.nelson@niwa.co.nz
or Dr Don Robertson
Phone +64-4-386 0300
d.robertson@niwa.co.nz |
