Our Lakes, Our Future
Our Lakes, Our Future – Te Mana o Te Wai, Te Mauri o Te Wai is a five-year research programme dedicated to safeguarding and revitalising the health of lakes in Aotearoa New Zealand. The programme is co-led by Cawthron and GNS Science and involving 22 national and 7 international research partners. This programme focuses on developing approaches to understand, diagnose, and enhance lake health to ensure our lakes are protected now and in the future.
Our Lakes, Our Future follows the nationally significant Lakes380 programme, which, to date, is the largest study of lakes in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history. Where together, the team sampled around 10% of naturally occurring lakes to understand their health now and in the past.
The Our Lakes, Our Future team is developing a set of globally unique approaches to monitoring and managing lakes. There are three main parts of the programme:
Holistic Lake Health
The team is developing comprehensive approaches to measuring lake health that incorporates cultural values and biodiversity.
New environmental DNA based tools will be used to determine what native and non-native species are present and establish the natural condition of the lake.
Susceptibility and Diagnostic Assessment
The team is developing a new approach to help lake managers in diagnosing declining lake health, exploring extreme weather impacts and for predicting when change is about to occur.
Lake restoration framework
We are developing a framework to evaluate which restoration methods best suit individual lakes and ensure efficient use of limited resources.
Funder: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
New Zealand Collaborators: GNS Science (joint leaders), Waikato University, Victoria University, Waka Taurua Ltd, Matana Consulting, University of Otago, Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Ngāti Pāhauwera, Manawhenua ki Mohua.
International Collaborators: Griffith University (Australia), Northern Arizona University (USA), Queens University (Canada), Wright State University (USA), Wageningen University and Research (Netherlands), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UK) and University of Canberra (Australia).
Partners: Ministry for the Environment, Department of Conservation, Auckland Regional Council, Waikato Regional Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Hawkes Bay Regional Council, Horizons Regional Council, Tasman District Council, Environment Canterbury, Dairy NZ, Beef and Lamb and Fonterra.
MBIE award a golden ending for Lakes380 research programme
Cawthron Institute celebrates five successful bids in 2023 MBIE Endeavour funding round
Visit OurLakesOurFuture.nz
Lake sampling in Southland.
Contact us:
Dr Susie Wood
Freshwater Scientist and Molecular Ecologist
