New Zealand
The mountain forests of Switzerland and New Zealand have been modified by people, plants, and animals, albeit at different times and in distinctive ways. In both countries, what had been extensive wooded tracts at the start of human settlement were progressively converted by settlers to heterogeneous forest patches surrounded by pasture and other managed systems. Some native species thrived,...
A comparative review is provided of the weather and climate processes and phenomena that characterise the New Zealand Southern Alps and European Alps. The general climate conditions and atmospheric circulation features that affect the two mountain regions are assessed. Interaction of the mountains with synoptic weather systems is described, including their dynamic and thermal effects on...
The human histories of the European and Southern Alps are very different, with contrasts in respective length of time settled, population, and the types of records that the populations in each environment have left behind. This article explores these differences for the period 1000–1900 AD, tracing the specific trajectories of Alpine development in both places before analysing the...
The European Alps (Alps) and Southern Alps of New Zealand (Southern Alps) are both high mountain ranges formed by the collision of tectonic plates. The Alps resulted from collision of the African and European Plates, which produced complex lithological and structural patterns associated with the development of a series of overthrusted nappes. In contrast, the plate margin deformation that...
New Zealand is a very mountainous country with sparsely populated mountain lands. While large tracts are held in private ownership and used in pastoral production, the majority is state owned. New Zealand's protected natural area system encompasses the Southern Alps/Ka Tiritiri o te Moana and the North Island peaks, with the highest mountains in the country within Aoraki/Mount...
These lines by J. K. Baxter capture something of the ambivalent role played by the South Island High Country in the collective psyche, science, and public policy of New Zealand. As Kevin O'Connor, Professor of Range Management, put it in 1993: "Most people in New Zealand would be disconcerted if their mountain skylines to familiar landscapes were removed. Nevertheless, the...
Many physical similarities exist between the European Alps and the Southern Alps of New Zealand. This may be the reason why European settlers (re)named Ka Tiritiri o te Moana—the Maori name for the long stretch of alpine country that crosses Te Wahi Pounamu or the South Island from southwest to northeast— the Southern Alps. But both major mountain ranges have very different...
This newsletter gives an update on WCPA Oceania, covering also international, Australian, New Zealand and Pacific island news. News includes updates on hazards (fires), biodiversity, climate change, policy on national parks and protected areas.
As elsewhere in the world, agencies of local and central government in New Zealand have renewed pressure on high-country pastoral farmers to ensure that their land use is sustainable. However, government policy innovations for conservation have often cut across the path along which farmers were innovating toward sustainable development. Sustained consultation in some parts of the world has...
Pages
