Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Major research to test whether lowering the ocean’s acidity could help to fight climate change will get underway in Hawke’s Bay on Tuesday.

Over the next three weeks, New Zealand and Canadian researchers will use a small fleet of boats and watercraft to sample and map the chemistry of coastal waters in the region, especially around river mouths.

The voyage is part of a five-year, $11 million Endeavour Fund project, led by Earth Sciences New Zealand (ESNZ), to research the potential of several marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) techniques.

The ocean is already a massive natural carbon sink, but mCDR aims to draw extra carbon dioxide out of the rapidly warming atmosphere and lock more of it away in the deep ocean.

It has therefore attracted growing interest over the last decade or so, but many of the techniques – which involve adding things to the ocean to stimulate carbon removal – are only at a theoretical or lab testing stage.

ESNZ marine biogeochemist Cliff Law said that was partly because of how difficult it was to prove that any of them worked.

“When things spread in the ocean, it’s very difficult to actually have instruments in place to monitor it, because obviously the ocean’s a big wide place and it disperses quite randomly.”

There are also concerns about what effects marine carbon dioxide removal might have on the marine environment, which have driven a growing body of international law to restrict how the techniques are researched and deployed.

RNZ reported earlier this year on the international start-up Gigablue, which has attracted scepticism from some marine science experts over plans to carry out its own type of mCDR in New Zealand waters.

Instead of deliberately deploying any mCDR techniques, the ESNZ research would instead study their naturally-occurring equivalents, Law said.

Hawke’s Bay was the proving ground for the first of three processes, called ocean alkalinity.

“Alkalinity has been going into the oceans for millions and millions of years through things like rivers and from sediments,” he said.

“It provides a natural mechanism by which it offsets the acidity of the water. So in other words, it raises the pH and it absorbs the carbon dioxide, and it converts that into a dissolved form, which is no longer carbon dioxide, so it can’t be exchanged with the atmosphere.”

Rather than deliberately adding alkalinity to the ocean, the team would test how much carbon dioxide was being taken up as a result of Hawke’s Bay’s many rivers disgorging alkaline sediments and groundwater into the ocean.

“The reason why we looked in this region first of all was that we knew that there were limestone catchments and they tend to release more alkalinity into the fresh water,” Law said.

Canadian scientists would use ESNZ’s launch, Kimiora, to set a moored buoy with sensors, and would also operate an unmanned surface craft around the plume of water entering the bay from the Esk River.

“It’ll be mapping the surface waters and making measurements of… the carbon dioxide and the pH in the water, and from that, we can calculate the alkalinity.”

Further offshore, the ESNZ research vessel Tangaroa would move around southern Hawke’s Bay, Law said.

“We will be mapping the alkalinity, the salinity and the other things that will be indicators of the river input in the surface water. But we’ll also be making measurements throughout the water column.”

The team also planned to use an autonomous ‘glider’ craft that would move independently around the bay, collecting further measurements, including from the seafloor.

That would help the researchers to measure the effects of increased alkalinity on the marine environment, he said.

“If alkalinity has increased, what effect does it have on things like the phytoplankton and the sediments [on the seafloor]?”

ESNZ had already developed a good model of how river water and the alkalinity it carried mixed with the ocean, he said.

“The information we’ll get on this voyage will allow us to use the observations… to actually develop our measurements and our models.”

Later stages of the research would study natural equivalents for ocean fertilisation – when nutrients are added to the ocean to stimulate the growth of carbon-absorbing phytoplankton – and how much extra carbon can be stored if wood is deposited on the seafloor.

Rather than deliberate ocean fertilisation, the team would study what happened during a natural algal bloom, Law said.

“We’ll have a voyage in coming years down there to measure one of these phytoplankton blooms and measure the amount of carbon that’s falling out below it – how much is actually sequestered away in the deep ocean and where it goes.”

To study the effect of wood deposits, the team would look at the forestry slash that ended up on the seafloor in Hawke’s Bay because of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“We can look at how much of the carbon is still there and how much has been lost and how it’s impacted the biological communities in the sediment around it.”

Unlike the other two techniques, ocean alkalinity was a chemical process, making it slightly easier to monitor and measure, Law said.

“The real trouble with a lot of the biological marine CDR techniques is tracking the carbon, what its fate actually is, how much of it is going to get down into the deep ocean and be sequestered away for a long time?”

There were “all sorts of problems” with that.

“It can be broken down by feeding by animals and by bacteria, and it can be converted not only back into carbon dioxide quite quickly, but it can also be converted into other forms of carbon, which makes it difficult to monitor and measure and follow.”

Alkalinity, on the other hand, was a more straightforward chemical conversion of carbon dioxide into forms like bicarbonate.

“We know that it’s fairly stable in those forms for long periods of time – longer than 1000 years.”

The full research project aimed to answer important questions about what might happen if marine carbon dioxide removal did go ahead in future, Law said.

“What do we need to know? What are the risks? What are the benefits of these things? How will they impact ecosystems and the ocean’s chemistry? How much carbon dioxide could be removed? How do we actually monitor and verify them?”

That would help to inform New Zealand’s ministries and government “about whether this is an appropriate thing for us to be doing or not”, he said.

“If we were to go down this line, what do we need to know? What regulations do we need in place before we can even consider deploying something in our waters?”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland psychologist says holidays like Mother’s Day can be painful reminders of loss.

While many will be celebrating Mother’s Day, other’s will be mourning those mums who are no longer here.

David Stebbing is a psychologist with qualifications in family and child psychology.

He told RNZ Mother’s Day could be difficult for those who’ve lost loved ones.

“Any dates that are really significant to an individual like a birthday, or Mother’s Day, or Christmas, or something that has that celebratory component, can end up being a more painful reminder rather than something to celebrate.”

Stebbing said people could sometimes feel out of step with the mood.

“If you are essentially going through your day to day life in a relatively comfortable state and then there is something that’s a really salient reminder, it can obviously transport you back in a way that revisits some of those feelings of loss and bereavement,” he said.

It was also difficult for those families where wife and mother had died, Stebbing said.

“Collectively getting together to be able to celebrate the life, and commiserate the loss of that really significant partner and parent together can be a really helpful way to get through, and to connect,” he said.

“I also think for some people […] perhaps going to the grave site or getting out some photo albums and looking through those can be both preparatory things, so you make some plans in advance for that, and also can help you to be both as sad as you need to be whilst at the same time having the opportunity to really positively remember the importance of that person to you.”

Stebbing said there were a number of resources available for those in need of support.

“There is a lot in the way of podcasts and other resources online that can be really helpful for people,” he said.

“There’s such a range now, there’s a lot of opportunity to look into really specific things like the loss of a parent, and you’ll find quite a lot of resource that can be really quite useful, and it’s a case of really just cherry picking that a wee bit.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fire and Emergency has turned down a request to help one of the United States’ top two urban search and rescue teams.

The USA-02 team in Los Angeles county wanted a specific expert to mentor them for one or two weeks a year ahead of a big test in 2029.

“A great honour,” said the manager who got the request last November.

USA-02 came to Christchurch’s aid after the 2011 earthquake and was part of US efforts to help here after Cyclone Gabrielle.

The 60 or so internationally-mandated USAR teams routinely help each other out with training – and help out other countries after disasters.

The international body called INSARAG said FENZ has a strong record for doing that.

But in this case, emails seen by RNZ showed FENZ turned down the US State Department in March.

The agency said it had to prioritise New Zealand and the Pacific.

“The issue was solely one of timing and organisational readiness,” Ken Cooper, national manager of response capability, said in an internal email last month.

However, Chris Lind, the expert the US wanted, emailed Cooper in March: “This represents a lost opportunity to grow our people and our teams for the better, at no cost to the organisation – particularly valuable in a fiscally constrained environment.”

USAR operations manager Glenn Hudson handled the initial request and called the rejection “short sighted” – the emails showed he had urged top management to quickly OK Lind going before some other agency got asked; it was a chance “to put FENZ and NZ Inc branding on the world stage”.

‘We’d love to have Chris’

RNZ understands it sometimes happens that mentor requests between countries are turned down, but not usually.

The Americans had specifically wanted Lind who they had worked with “extensively” including during Gabrielle in 2023, and noted how they had a big joint exercise coming up in May 2026 and “we’d love to have Chris there if he’s able to join us”.

The request added the sweetener for a second expert to come along each year with Lind, adding as usual with travel and accommodation expenses – but not salaries – paid.

They would have worked to help USA-02 pass its next five-yearly test to be reclassified to United Nations standards in 2029 – the gold standard for earthquake and landslide rescues. It is one of just two American teams classified this way. FENZ provided a mentor to help USA-01 pass in 2022 (NZL-01 who led at the fatal Mt Maunganui landslide this year passed their latest big test in 2024).

When RNZ began making inquiries, Fire and Emergency said it would not be proceeding with the mentor proposal.

“New Zealand’s current strategic focus is on developing and supporting capability across the Pacific nations, which requires us to prioritise our people and resources accordingly,” it said in a statement.

It did not agree to an interview.

Hudson played a key role marshalling USAR forces at Mt Maunganui.

In the emails, he told Cooper the LA county job would give personnel significant exposure to the international rescue environment at virtually no cost.

Later, he labelled the time taken to decide on it “embarrassing”, the lack of follow-up “another example of … poor leadership” and the decision itself “short-sighted”.

“I had hoped that Chris’s involvement would both reinforce and strengthen relationships with our partners, including the US and INSARAG,” he wrote.

INSARAG – the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group in Geneva – said it was a bilateral matter.

“It’s not our business to impose anything on them or to comment on their decisions.”

But it added that FENZ had made a “significant… and lasting contribution” to search and rescue internationally down the years.

FENZ is tied up in a contentious and months-long delayed restructuring that included a proposal to change top USAR – urban search and rescue – jobs.

‘We’ve got some very good friends’

USA-02 provided some of the 600 rescue workers from six countries that Christchurch relied on after the February 2011 quake.

“We’ve got some very good friends,” Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said at the time.

The US ambassador echoed this in 2023 when a dozen technical experts were sent here after Cyclone Gabrielle: “When disaster strikes we are there for one another.”

FENZ reports talk of the “breadth and range” of its USAR capability and how they could be deployed worldwide “at a moment’s notice”.

NZL-01 rescued people after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In 2023, 49 INSARAG teams led the search for thousands of people buried under rubble in Türkiye and Syria. Others went to Beirut after the port explosion in 2020, to the Indian ocean tsunami in 2004 and the 2015 Nepal quake.

INSARAG’s Sebastian Rhodes Stampa in Geneva told RNZ that Fire and Emergency’s record was strong.

“This includes supporting classifications or reclassifications for multiple teams over the years within the Asia-Pacific Region and as far away as Europe and the USA,” he said.

After the 2016 Kaikōura quake it led development of a new coordination and management system since adopted by teams globally.

‘I see the writing on the wall’

Hudson had urged Cooper for a quick OK when the request landed on November 25 from Robert Chapman at the State Department’s office of international disaster operations.

It was a “great honour”, Hudson had immediately told Chapman.

He told Cooper “should we deny this request we would be missing out” on FENZ staff development.

But by January and February there had been no decision.

“I am personally sorry this has taken so long,” Hudson told Chapman. He’d had trouble “getting this request across the line” and now he was stepping back while it was referred upwards to a FENZ deputy chief executive, understood to be Megan Stiffler.

“Standing by,” replied Chapman.

On March 17 Chapman wrote that he had not heard back. “Nothing from Megan … pretty sure I see the writing on the wall here, but it would be helpful for me to get it in writing so I can take it back up my chain.”

A few hours later, he got the thumbs down, Hudson writing, “We have looked at all workloads… and our current restructure will rely heavily on his [Lind’s] input developing USAR capability within New Zealand and with our Pacific partners.”

But an hour earlier an upset Hudson had emailed Cooper that FENZ was going to miss out on free and valuable development and strategic benefits.

In addition, he was in the “embarrassing” position of having told the State Department it would hear from FENZ leadership. “When I spoke to them today … I had to quickly make excuses for the lack of communication from the DCE.”

Lind also said the delay was frustrating and left the State Department hanging.

But he accepted the decision and would carry on, as he had always advocated being capable “within our own backyard in the first instance”, Lind wrote.

‘Prioritise our people and resources’

Cooper rejected that the decision was shortsighted or the process showed poor leadership.

FENZ had had options to work with the US without making the mentor opportunity specific to one person at the outset.

“This option was fully considered and supported by the DCE and you were asked to communicate that offer to the US state department,” he emailed Hudson and Lind.

RNZ understands it would be unusual if one country asked for someone by name as a mentor, for the other country to go ahead offering someone else.

Cooper said there was no guarantee of direct leadership engagement in a set timeframe and the process “does not warrant undermining comments”.

FENZ told RNZ it was all about focus: “It is important that we remain focused on the challenges and priorities we are facing organisationally and within the region.

It had “always been, and remains, supportive of opportunities and continues its active participation in INSARAG. We hope to continue work with our US counterparts to look at ways in which we can offer guidance and supportive.”

RNZ approached the US embassy for comment.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

When Rebecca Fitzgerald’s twin boys were born three months premature she endured a heart-breaking separation from her tiny babies.

Her son Louie needed treatment at Christchurch Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) but there was no room for Ollie, who had to be treated in Dunedin, where they were born.

Fitzgerald had to travel between the cities to visit her boys for seven months but now there is hope a $14 million expansion of Christchurch’s NICU will result in fewer parents missing out on precious time with their sick newborns.

About 18 to 19 weeks into her pregnancy Fitzgerald was told that her twins were sharing a placenta and one of the boys was getting most of the benefit.

Weeks later an obstetrician at Dunedin Hospital’s emergency department delivered some alarming news.

“I’ll never forget the look on her face. She looked me dead in the eye and said I’m really sorry but you’re going into labour. The boys were 23 weeks and two days. Very naively I didn’t even know babies could arrive that early,” she said.

When Fitzgerald’s boys were born, she was told they had a 30 percent chance of survival.

The twins were taken straight to neonatal care, where she saw them for the first time six hours’ later.

Louie needed more intensive care so was sent to Christchurch’s NICU but pressure on beds meant there was no room for Ollie, who stayed in Dunedin, along with Fitzgerald’s older daughter.

On arrival she saw just how busy Christchurch’s NICU was.

“It kind of just looked like incubators had been dropped all around the floor. There was no structure, no nothing,” she said.

“There were that many babies that when the doctors came to do their rounds you had to sit with headphones on listening to music so you couldn’t hear what the doctors were saying about the baby beside you.”

Christchurch Hospital NICU clinical director Bronwyn Dixon said 59 mothers were sent from Christchurch to another city in the last year because of capacity constraints, causing a huge amount of added stress.

“You are suddenly told that your baby is not growing or something is wrong with the baby. That on its own is a huge stressor, incredibly difficult for families. Then to be told you have to fly somewhere where you have no supports, how is your partner going to get there, how are you going to feed yourself, where are you going to stay? All of those things,” she said.

“We help with a lot of those practicalities but it’s really, really stressful, really tough for families.”

Cabinet has now signed off a $13.9 million expansion for the unit, increasing beds from 44 to 54, and a number of other improvements such as more space for privacy.

“Our aim is to keep as many of those whānau in Christchurch as we can. It’s not realistic in New Zealand at the moment to say we will never ship a woman out but we can cut those numbers down significantly,” Dixon said.

Māia Health Foundation chief executive Michael Flatman said the charity had committed an additional $2.1 million to put the finishing touches on the project.

“There’s going to a reasonably large expansion to this space so a lot more chairs for breast-feeding, skin to skin, and cuddles. Of course they need to be hospital grade, but to make them as good as possible, and other various bits of equipment to help with training and the staff and really take the NICU here in Christchurch from good to great,” he said.

Flatman said the foundation was launching a fundraising campaign from 11 May for people who wanted to make a donation to the unit, which had made a difference to thousands of families over almost 20 years.

Fitzgerald’s boys recently turned three and while their health still needs monitoring, she said they were typical boys who loved their bikes, music and making mayhem.

“In a way I know the journey is not over because we still have a lot of things to get ticked off and get checked but when you’re just doing the day to day its pretty remarkable that I have my two boys at home,” she said.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand