Funding boost for Antarctic science

The Government is backing vital science research in Antarctica with new investments worth $15.3 million.

"Science in Antarctica is important to New Zealand," Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said.

"New Zealand's science leadership and expertise highlights our stewardship role in the Ross Sea region. We are responsible for managing this unique and vulnerable part of the world.

"The knowledge generated by New Zealand's scientists is critical to fisheries management and other activities with potential environmental impact," he said.

Crown research institutes (CRIs) NIWA, Landcare Research and GNS have been awarded $15.32 million by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology for three programmes over the next four years.

Research, Science and Technology Minister Wayne Mapp said the research will yield invaluable insights into the continent's unique ecosystem.

"This funding clearly shows the Government's larger commitment to Antarctica," he said.

"In particular it supports climate change forecasting. This is an area which has profound relevance to us all."

NIWA and Landcare researchers will co-operate to better understand and quantify aspects of the Ross Sea ecosystem, and that will help provide support for any future protected areas in the region.

A second Landcare project will develop an environmental classification system for Ross Sea ecosystems, underpinned by new knowledge on soil, climate and microbial diversity.

The third project, led by GNS, will take the internationally-acclaimed ANDRILL project further. As a multinational Antarctic drilling programme, ANDRILL brings GNS scientists together with scientists from Victoria and Otago universities to recover sediments that will reveal more about past climates.

"The results of ANDRILL so far are exciting. Scientists can now picture how Antarctic ice shelves and ice sheets behaved during periods of natural global warming," Dr Mapp said.

The programmes will enhance collaboration between CRIs, and strengthen partnerships between CRIs and universities, he said.

"Collaboration is key to the quality and robustness of Antarctic science, and all research organisations share the objective of meeting New Zealand's obligations under the Antarctic Treaty's Protocol on Environmental Protection."

$20 million has also been allocated through Antarctica New Zealand to provide logistics support for science events travelling to the ice.