The Royal New Zealand Navy during a recovery operation on Whakaari/White Island, on December 13. Rescue and recovery efforts have been hampered by hazardous conditions on the island, and the danger of another eruption.
EPA/Royal NZ Navy
The tragedy at Whakaari/White Island highlights the need for consent forms to ensure tourists are fully informed when choosing to visit dangerous locations.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has agreed to meet with Bougainville officials to institute a political settlement.
AAP Image/Joel Carrett
Ayesha Scott, Auckland University of Technology and Aaron Gilbert, Auckland University of Technology
New Zealand introduced KiwiSaver 12 years ago to address a lack of retirement savings. But fees are up to 50% more than UK funds and New Zealanders are missing out on hundreds of thousands in savings.
The newly discovered Kupoupou stilwelli would have once swam in the waters around Chatham Island near New Zealand.
Illustration by Jacob Blokland
This newly discovered species is the oldest one known to resemble today’s penguins in both size and leg proportions, unlike its giant co-habitants at the time.
Many developed countries already have significant waste-to-energy operations and therefore less material going to landfill.
Burning non-recyclable waste to generate energy sounds like a great idea – but incineration plants need an ongoing waste stream to be viable, which perpetuates the make-use-dispose mentality.
The volcanic alert level on Whakaari/White Island remains at three, one rung higher than it was when the eruption took place.
AAP/GNS Science
Visiting an active volcano involves risk. Hazard monitoring systems can issue warnings but in the case of the privately-owned White Island, the decision to take a tour falls to tourism operators.
Low energy availability is a condition that happens when athletes restrict their diet in the belief weight loss will improve performance.
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Shane Cronin, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Five people have died and several remain unaccounted for after a sudden volcanic eruption on Whakaari/White Island off the east coast of New Zealand.
New Zealand’s commercial broadcasters are in trouble and the government is considering a complete restructure of public broadcasting.
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Hundreds of jobs are at risk and the quality of news is under threat as New Zealand’s broadcasting media face closures, sales and restructuring in the biggest overhaul in a decade.
Many temperate crops require winter chilling to initiate flowering or fruit ripening, and orchards may need to shift to colder areas.
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New Zealand is a net exporter of many fruit and vegetables. While climate-change induced food shortages are not an imminent risk, some crops may be affected by rising temperatures and extreme weather.
A New Zealand pizza chain deceived customers by offering plant-based meat without telling them - but it did so out of concerns for the environment.
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Nicola Gavey, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Grace Millane’s murder trial demonstrated it is still possible to question a woman’s behaviour without understanding the gendered nature of men’s violence against women.
Planes can create clouds of tiny ice crystals, called contrails, and some studies suggest they could have an a significant effect on climate.
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Shaun Hendy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Globally, emissions from air travel account for only about 3% of the warming human activities are causing, but aviation affects our climate in a number of ways.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, the leader of the New Zealand First party, maintains that no laws have been broken in his party’s funding arrangements.
AAP/Paul Braven
The New Zealand First party, a government coalition partner, has received tens of thousands of dollars from a foundation whose trustees include the party’s lawyer and an ex-MP.
An analysis of some of the most serious cases of financial fraud in New Zealand shows white-collar offenders received discounted sentences despite a range of aggravating factors.
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Lisa Marriott, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
A New Zealand Court of Appeal decision set a precedent last month. Offenders who can prove their personal addiction played a role in their crime are now eligible for a shorter sentence.
While tariffs have a direct impact on exporters in the US and China, third-party countries like New Zealand are more affected by non-tariff barriers.
EPA/Aleksandar Plavevski
Hongzhi Gao, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Ivy Guo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
So far, New Zealand exporters have not been affected by the trade war between the US and China, but the Hong Kong crisis could easily embroil any foreign company.
As sea levels rise, it becomes easier for ocean waves to spill further onto land.
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James Renwick, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
For every ten centimetres of sea level rise, the chances of a 100-year coastal flood increase three-fold. This means we’ll have to build flood defenses or retreat from the coast.
Since the Chinese plastic recycling market closed, 58% of New Zealand’s plastic waste goes to countries in South-East Asia.
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Waste-to-energy incineration has been raised as a solution to the global plastic waste problem, but the technology adds pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and encourages more waste production.
Rapid population growth and increased consumption are now seen as the main drivers of environmental changes.
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Discussions about climate change often skirt around the issue of population growth, but it is the main driver of rising carbon dioxide levels and many other environmental changes on a planetary scale.
Critics of assisted suicide often raise moral objections while proponents focus on the trauma of terminally ill patients. But all arguments have a long history.
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Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University