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Maori are being described as critical to the success of the Government’s national science challenge on water.
Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce says it’s the most important challenge yet because water is key to New Zealand’s economic prosperity.
The $100 million, 10-year Our Land and Water Challenge will be hosted by Agresearch and brings together multiple crown research institutes and universities to look for ways to boost agricultural production while improving land and water quality.
The government is spending almost $100 million over the next 10 years.
Mr Joyce says Maori need to be at the forefront because of the challenges of developing their land.
"And one of the interesting challenges around the Ture Whenua reforms is making sure that the catchments can handle the additional development that Maori landowners want to bring to their properties for their prosperity and in many cases under the old model finite resources like water have to some degree been already allocated so for this to work for Maori is actually more important because we need their businesses to have the spare capacity to help grow to get the level of nutrients that they need," he says.
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