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Posted inEnvironment
NIWA TO DISESTABLISH AIR QUALITY TEAM
Regional councils urged Niwa not to cut its Air Quality Team in a letter in May,
but Newsroom understands the cuts are going ahead
by Marc Daalder 10/06/202411/06/2024
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Niwa staff who research and track air pollution are among the 85-90 roles on the
chopping block. Photo: Dave Allen/Niwa
Sustainable Future in association with
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pioneering research into air pollution at the National Institute of Water and
Atmospheric Research (Niwa) is set to be defunded as the Crown research
institute looks to cut costs, Newsroom understands.
The institute’s ongoing savings drive has already prompted staff to issue an
open letter decrying the “lack of transparency and [the] piecemeal nature of the
process”. In April, the Public Service Association revealed that between 85 and
90 roles may be cut – about 13 percent of the workforce.
Among the teams on the chopping block is Niwa’s Air Quality Team. This branch
works closely with local and regional councils to monitor air pollution and
research its sources and impacts.
READ MORE
Environment
AIR POLLUTION ABOVE SAFE LEVELS IN 12 OF 13 REGIONS
Environment
GOVT EMPLOYS ONE PERSON ON AIR QUALITY DESPITE 3000 YEARLY DEATHS
In May, the National Air Quality Group – a coalition of environment staffers
from regional councils – wrote privately to Niwa to urge the team be retained.
“We need the continued support and expertise of Niwa to enable us to effectively
manage air quality, for the health of our communities. This is particularly
important for our Māori,
Pasifika and vulnerable persons living in our communities,” the council staff
wrote.
“Councils across the country rely on Niwa to carry out indoor and outdoor air
quality projects. To date Niwa has undertaken air quality projects for
Alexandra, Invercargill, Wairoa, Ashburton, Arrowtown, Masterton, Reefton,
Christchurch, Motueka, Gisborne, Rangiora, Taupo, Hamilton, Hawkes Bay in the
wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. Niwa also has a wintertime low-cost sensor project
scheduled for Rotorua.”
Niwa declined to comment for this article.
The news comes after Newsroom reported last week that the Ministry for the
Environment has tasked just one staff member with rewriting rules for air
quality over the past three years, ever since the World Health Organization
found current regulations allow dangerous levels of pollutants.
This was despite a 2022 study in New Zealand finding 3300 premature deaths a
year are attributable to air pollution, alongside 13,000 hospitalisations and
13,000 cases of childhood asthma annually.
New data released last week also showed that while air quality is improving, the
two most dangerous pollutants are still detected above safe levels in most of
the country. These pollutants, PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide, are not subject to
any regulation.
In the letter to Niwa, the regional council coalition highlighted the importance
of the Air Quality Team’s Community Air projects. These include awareness
campaigns about air pollution, getting local communities and schools involved in
monitoring pollution and “developed monitoring-based platforms for evaluating
air quality solutions for homes, smaller buildings and communities”.
One of the key projects set to lose its funding is Air Grid, which provides
localised information about air pollution in an accessible format.
“Niwa is a pioneer in using dense grids of new-generation air monitors to create
detailed maps of air quality. If the country loses this resource, there is no
other agency with the capability and equipment to continue this work,” the
National Air Quality Group wrote.
“Measuring particulate matter levels, particularly PM2.5 (the most dangerous to
human health), and visually demonstrating it in the form of maps and animations
is groundbreaking and educational.
Join our free newsletter for
in-depth environmental news and views.
“No other New Zealand agency can provide appropriately experienced personnel,
equipment and resources to conduct the required atmospheric air quality science.
Retaining this resource (your air quality team) is extremely important for New
Zealand’s local government, business, education and health sectors.”
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
4 Comments
1. Desmond Darby says:
10/06/2024 at 9:29 am
Any reduction in air quality research or monitoring is an appalling decision
for NIWA to be making. If it’s their only way of responding to government
funding cuts, those cuts are also appalling. I understand asthma rates in NZ
are higher than international norms, and this is just one reason why efforts
should be increased. Air is a public asset that I doubt any government could
ever privatise, and this is why its quality must be tax-payer funded,
hopefully by taxing the biggest polluters. People with respiratory illnesses
should not be paying the price.
Log in to Reply
2. Hugh Martin says:
10/06/2024 at 11:44 am
I imagine the writer is somewhat frustrated that so many people choose to
ignore the evidence that air pollution kills and sickens thousands of New
Zealanders every year.
Those people include members of the public as well as members of parliament.
We all make decisions for ourselves and others.
Last year I saw a mother park her double-cab ute outside a Chinese takeaway.
She got out but left the engine running. She was gone more than just one or
two minutes and during that time her preschool son was sitting in the back
seat.
We all inhale nitrogen dioxide every day but it seemed she was trying to
maximize her son’s dosage by not only presumably carting him everywhere in
an oversize diesel vehicle but by continuing to poison him even after
reaching her destination.
Most people just don’t care. It seems we would rather harm our own children
than change our car-dependent lifestyle.
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1. Peter Olorenshaw says:
11/06/2024 at 7:56 am
Well said John and again poor picture from Newsroom – NOx from Diesels
houses more deaths and illness than particulate pollution and almost all
of the NOx is from Diesels. And of the particulate pollution, if we treat
all particulate pollution as equally harmful (as WHO does) 17% of that is
from motor vehicles, again most of it from diesels. While I’m not
claiming there is no issue of pollution from poorly operated and old
woodburners, the much greater problem is from diesels Information from
HAPINZ 3.0 report). Is there a case for restricting these of diesels in
urban areas? We now have readily available electric deliver trucks and
vans and who actually needs an off road 4WD SUV or double cab diesel ute
in towns and cities anyway?
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3. John Maindonald says:
10/06/2024 at 1:40 pm
This is both frustating and disgusting, even if the Goverment is trying
to main some short distance from NIWA’s decision-making. Surely attention to
the health of its people has to be among the Governent’s highest priorities.
It is part of a pattern — winding back steps taken to reduce smoking,
removing enviromental protections that have not been enough to stop serious
degredation, . . . What next?
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