Tagged: Canterbury

The Alpine Fault: Is New Zealand Prepared? - Shaken Not Stirred

Jesse Dykstra • Nov 20, 2013 •

• Alpine Fault,
• Canterbury,
• Christchurch,
• disaster,
• earthquake,
• Fault,
• natural disaster,
• New Zealand,
• West Coast

The central section of the Alpine Fault (Source: wiki.gns.cri.nz) This post is the first of two articles which explore the potential impacts of the next great earthquake on the Alpine Fault and consider how prepared New Zealand is for that event.  This builds on a previous post which describes the physical properties of the Alpine Fault in more detail. Improved Understanding of Earthquake Hazards in New Zealand … Read More

Normal service will be resumed shortly - Hot Topic

Gareth Renowden • Sep 12, 2013 •

• Canterbury,
• Hot Topic,
• Wind

Something of a global warming (coverage) hiatus has hit Hot Topic in the last couple of days, courtesy of the rather dramatic gale that hit my part of New Zealand on Tuesday evening. We are all well, and suffered no damage to our house — but there’s a hell of a lot of tidying up […] … Read More

Sea level rise and the Canterbury coastline - Hot Topic

Gareth Renowden • Jul 31, 2013 •

• amberley,
• Canterbury,
• Climate business,
• Climate Science,
• nz,
• Sea level

What are the prospects for the shorelines of Pegasus Bay as sea level rises, river flows change, and wave directions change? Someone who really knows her erosion from accretion is Sonny Whitelaw, the Hurunui Council’s biodiversity ambassador1. She’ll be talking to the Food For Thought Hurunui group on Monday night at the Memorial Library in […] … Read More

Collaborative water management delivers local solutions in north Canterbury - Waiology

Waiology • Apr 04, 2013 •

• Canterbury,
• collaboration,
• CWMS,
• Water governance,
• Water storage

By David Eder and Ian Whitehouse In July 2013 the Hurunui-Waiau Zone Committee will notch up three years of work. It was set up as part of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy – a collaborative process for finding local solutions to water issues within an environmentally sustainable framework. In July 2010 the committee’s daunting task was … Read More

Cruel Irony in EQC Privacy Breach: information on 83,000 claimants leaked - Shaken Not Stirred

Jesse Dykstra • Mar 27, 2013 •

• Canterbury,
• Christchurch,
• disaster,
• earthquake,
• EQC,
• EQC leak,
• insurance industry,
• liquefaction,
• natural disaster,
• New Zealand,
• privacy breach

As widely reported in the media yesterday, details of EQC claimants and claims have been leaked in a privacy breach that effects 83,000 Christchurch households. That’s details of every claim between $10-100k, arising from the 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011 earthquakes. The leaked spreadsheet included details of EQC repair cost estimates and associated contractor quotes. If this information … Read More

Evolution of water governance models in New Zealand - Waiology

Waiology • Mar 27, 2013 •

• Canterbury,
• collaborative governance,
• Common pool resources,
• Elinor Ostrom,
• RMA,
• Water governance

By Bryan Jenkins In her work that won her the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics, Elinor Ostrom identified three types of governance models for common pool resources like water. One is the “Leviathan model” where there is direct government provision of services with integration of policy making and operational functions. The second is the “privatisation model” where … Read More

The state of Canterbury’s coastal wetland vegetation - Waiology

Waiology • Jan 29, 2013 •

• Canterbury,
• coasts,
• wetlands,
• World Wetlands Day

By Philip Grove Canterbury has a wide variety of wetland types in a range of landscapes from the mountains and high country through to the foothills, plains and the coast. The biological productivity of coastal wetlands and their ecological importance in the life cycles of many native fish and birds is well recognised. A national database of inland freshwater wetlands … Read More

Where's the Best Place for a University? - Molecular Matters

Michael Edmonds • Jan 12, 2013 •

• Canterbury,
• Christchurch,
• education,
• Education,
• rebuild,
• university,
• University of Canterbury

A  debate over whether the University of Canterbury should move back into the Christchurch CBD seems to be starting again in the letters pages of the Christchurch Press. With large areas of empty land now appearing in the CBD after the demolition of many broken buildings some local residents see this as an opportunity to move the university back into … Read More

Canterbury does not have 70% of New Zealand’s freshwater, it has 12% - Waiology

Waiology • Oct 29, 2012 •

• Canterbury,
• Consents,
• Environment Canterbury,
• Irrigation,
• Water allocation

By Daniel Collins In the Christchurch Press today there is an article about the race to irrigate Canterbury. In it is the following statement: “Canterbury had 70 per cent of New Zealand’s fresh water resource, and 34 per cent of its hydro-generation capacity.” Unfortunately the 70% is an error that has appeared in the past and it is … Read More

Strengthening Secondary/Tertiary Collaboration - Molecular Matters

Michael Edmonds • Oct 07, 2012 •

• achievement standards,
• Canterbury,
• CPIT,
• Education,
• Lincoln,
• polytechnic,
• schools,
• university

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a Secondary-Tertiary meeting, organised by Sabina Cleary of UC Ed Plus with the support of the Canterbury Science Teachers Association. This meeting involved teachers from secondary schools around Christchurch with staff from the three main tertiary institutions (University of Canterbury, Lincoln University and Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology) to discuss various aspects of … Read More