Climate change research funding on offer

The Ministry for Primary industries is calling for applications to the 2019/20 funding round for the Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change (SLMACC) Research Programme.

Steve Penno, MPI's Director of Investment Programmes says this research programme has been supporting New Zealand’s response to climate change since 2007 and has been recognised internationally as leading the world in this area.

“New Zealand-based SLMACC-funded research is directly adding to the global knowledge base on the biggest issues facing our planet, and will continue to keep New Zealand at the forefront,” says Steve Penno.

“This is a particularly exciting year in our climate change journey. We are looking forward to seeing research proposals that will take our primary sectors the next steps,” says Steve Penno.

“We are still learning about how climate change affects our livelihoods, how to adapt and how to mitigate our contributions to warming. This funding gets scientists and researchers working with the agriculture sector to understand and solve the problems, and even see the opportunities.”

Each year’s funding prioritises one or more research theme topics. For the 2019/20 round these are:

- Research Theme 1: Impacts of climate change and adaptation

- Research Theme 2: Extension of climate change research

Applications are assessed by an external advisory panel which provides recommendations to MPI for final grant decisions.

Organisations, individuals or partnerships with co-funding from industry are encouraged to apply. Applications must be received by 3pm Friday 14 June 2019. Projects can run for 1 or 2 years.

Since 2007 the programme has invested around $50 million in over 150 targeted basic, applied and policy research projects relating to climate change in the land-based production sectors. The reports, as well as a 10-year retrospective, are available on the MPI website.

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