EXTENSIVE: Dr Chris Daughney says regional councils are responsible for a wealth of environmental monitoring that offers potential for greater feedback on the environment.
WHILE only a mere week into his new role as science advisor to Te Uru Kahika, Dr Chris Daughney has a clear bead on what his priorities are in the coming months.
His is a new role in a new entity, being appointed as the inaugural chief science advisor for the recently minted entity representing New Zealand’s 16 regional and unitary councils.
Daughney said his appointment provides an opportunity for authorities tasked with protecting resources of land, sea, air, soil and water to have direct input into central government science policy and funding, while recognising the impact such policies can have on their rate-paying communities.
The Canadian-born geohydrologist has stepped well beyond the intricacies of groundwater interactions since arriving in NZ 20 years ago from Ontario. Today his domain encompasses the suite of natural resources both above and below ground.
“I found that groundwater had relationships with surface water, and from that with soils, rainfall and it goes from there, your net starts to broaden, and everything is pretty much connected,” Daughney said.
He takes on the part-time role while keeping his connections as chief science advisor for Niwa, following a couple of years as principal analyst with the Ministry for the Environment, preceded by 16 years with GNS Science.
While the controversial Three Waters Reform has been the headline grabber for councils in the past three months, it is the lesser-known government Te Ara Paerangi Future Pathways green paper examining the potential reform of the science sector that is first up on his agenda.
“It is identifying a number of areas for change in science and science funding. This includes how matauranga Māori is incorporated, research funding and institutions are all included,” he said.
Submissions are now being received and one area he can see opportunities in is the area of environmental monitoring and feedback.
“Regional authorities are collectively making thousands of measurements on our environment every day. There has been significant improvements in harmonising that datas’ measurement. There are opportunities there to better understand that data and the effects of what is being measured,” he said.
With privately owned rural land comprising such a large part of authorities’ catchments, Daughney maintains the farming community can play an even bigger role in helping contribute to environmental feedback.
“Farming is really where the rubber hits the road; we have seen huge efforts around farmer catchment groups that have bought communities, including landowners, schools, iwi and environmentalists, together in recent years,” he said.
With several councils facing stalled environment court outcomes due to Overseer’s governmental review, he said it remains critical that any tool that upgrades or replaces it has the data and science behind it available for full peer review to ensure its quality.
While loath to comment on the social and political wranglings behind the Three Waters Reform, he said data and evidence on the nature of water supplies in NZ does point to an opportunity to review its management.
“This is obviously one of the workstreams on the radar of regional councils collectively, due to its impact,” he said.
An area he is keen to shore up across regional councils is better integration of the softer social sciences alongside the traditional physical sciences underpinning much of regional resource management overseen by councils.
“When we are talking about resource management, we have to question how we protect and balance the environment for future generations,” he said.
He said climate change is a classic example of a situation councils have to manage based heavily on physical science modelling. However, its outcomes have major social consequences and their impact upon human behaviour also have to be better understood.
