NZ Science Reorganised, but we still don’t have an air quality research programme

Last week, NZ Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins announced “the largest reset of NZ Science sector in more than 30 years”, including the merging of 8 Crown Research Institutes into three “Public Research Organisations”.

Yet New Zealand still stands with no publicly funded air quality research programme.

We did have such a programme running continuously from the nineties until July 2024, when it was shut down by NIWA, as part of a wave of cost-cutting and redundancies 

As the former leaders of that programme, we at The Air Quality Collective are concerned that the government’s rhetoric seems to focus so heavily on “transforming our economy” to generate revenue (in other words, selling stuff) to maintain a certain standard of living. This is only one of the many ways that science can and has provided value for society. 

For a couple of centuries, poor air quality has been a problem that largely impacts the vulnerable and the less well-off. The  wealthy, on the other hand, have been able to buy their way out of the problem by owning property on the windy ridge or sylvan suburb, rather than down in the smoggy valley or crowded metropolis. Expensive HVAC systems deliver pristine air to those that can afford it while cash-strapped asthmatic families freeze in mouldy homes and smoky neighbourhoods.

But that dynamic is increasingly changing and the wealthy (their property, businesses and vested interests) are increasingly in the firing line of poor air quality.

COVID-19 made it starkly clear how, when disaster strikes it is necessary to have immediate access to relevant science capability. Our inability to ensure healthy air in our buildings led to lockdowns and a severe hit to the whole economy. Cyclone Gabrielle wiped out valuable farming and expensive residential land, showing us how we need to understand how the land and the atmosphere interact and how to prepare our land for climate change far better than we do. The ever-worsening bushfires in Australia and California impact everyone, and show how our current approach to dealing with them is not fit for the climate change century. They also give a glimpse of what might be in store for New Zealand. 

We will not meet these challenges merely by selling widgets to those who can afford them. A strong economy is built on a fit and healthy populace with secure and resilient assets and resources. The dead don’t shop.  

We sincerely hope that when New Zealand faces its next air quality challenge we aren’t caught with our trousers down.

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