Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07WELLINGTON36
2007-01-10 18:22:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Wellington
Cable title:  

Scenesetter for A/S McMurray's visit to New Zealand:

Tags:  TSPL SENV PREL PGOV NZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHWL #0036/01 0101822
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY AD6926E2 MSI9833-695)
R 101822Z JAN 07 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 3710
UNCLAS WELLINGTON 000036 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (Signature added)

STATE FOR OES/FO AND EAP/ANP - DAN RICCI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPL SENV PREL PGOV NZ
SUBJECT: Scenesetter for A/S McMurray's visit to New Zealand:
Highlighting US-New Zealand Science Cooperation to Strengthen
Overall Ties

UNCLAS WELLINGTON 000036

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (Signature added)

STATE FOR OES/FO AND EAP/ANP - DAN RICCI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPL SENV PREL PGOV NZ
SUBJECT: Scenesetter for A/S McMurray's visit to New Zealand:
Highlighting US-New Zealand Science Cooperation to Strengthen
Overall Ties


1. (SBU) Summary: The upcoming commemoration of the 50th
anniversary of U.S. - New Zealand cooperation in Antarctic provides
a terrific opportunity to strengthen NZ public understanding of the
depth and significance of US-NZ scientific cooperation, an often
unrecognized strength in our bilateral relationship. While much of
our cooperation takes place in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, it
focuses on fields that extend to global issues of concern to many
New Zealanders, such as climate change, sustainable fisheries, and
whale conservation. With 40 percent of New Zealand scientists
maintaining active links to the U.S. science community, the United
States is New Zealand's most vital scientific partner. Fifty
percent of New Zealand's science effort is publicly-funded, and
frequently involves ties with NASA, NOAA, NSF, USGS, and other USG
agencies, making the bilateral science relationship a success story
for government-to-government cooperation. End Summary.

Background
--------------

2. (SBU) The U.S. and New Zealand have had a science and technology
cooperative agreement since 1974 (renewed in 1991),but bilateral
scientific efforts began well before that, especially extensive
cooperation in Antarctica starting in the International Geophysical
Year (IGY) in 1957-58. The first U.S. science counselor to New
Zealand, Dr. Paul Siple, was the science lead for the first U.S.
team to winter-over at the South Pole. Whereas other aspects of the
bilateral relationship have waxed and waned over the years,
bilateral scientific cooperation, particularly that associated with
Antarctica, has remained strong and constant. Regrettably, the
New Zealand public remains largely unaware of this. The 50th
anniversary of U.S. - New Zealand cooperation in Antarctica provides
a valuable opportunity to highlight the relevance of the cooperative
scientific effort, both for the underlying science itself as well as
for the overall bilateral relationship.

Highlights of Current Cooperation

--------------

3. (SBU) Currently the United States and New Zealand are
collaborating on a multinational Antarctic Drilling Project
(ANDRILL) to investigate climate change over time. The Long Term
Ecological Research (LTER) Network is a cooperative effort run by
the National Science Foundation investigating ecological processes
over long temporal and broad spatial scales. New Zealand scientists
provide base data to the project. In another significant Antarctic
project, the NZ and US Antarctic programs are collaborating to clean
up the Cape Hallett Station site. Some of the artifacts from the
site have been relocated to an exhibit at the Canterbury Museum,
including living quarters and a magnetic dome.


4. (SBU) In October 2002, the U.S. and New Zealand initiated a
Bilateral Climate Change Partnership to enhance and accelerate
practical cooperation on climate change issues. The initial round
of 26 projects was launched in 2003 and has grown to 35 projects in
nine priority areas: climate change science, technology
development, greenhouse gas accounting in forestry and agriculture,
engagement with business, emissions registries, cooperation with
developing countries, climate change research in Antarctica, public
education initiatives, and product & process standards. In fact,
our cooperative work on the issue is more significant than New
Zealand's climate change partnership with Australia (NZ's only other
climate change partnership),which only has about ten active
projects.


5. (SBU) Climate change is an issue that attracts a lot of
attention with the New Zealand public, whose knowledge of U.S.
policies of the issue is typically limited to our decision not to
join the Kyoto Agreement. In July 2006, Foreign Minister Winston
Peters appointed career diplomat Adrian Macey as New Zealand's first
Climate Change Ambassador. Ambassador Macey led the New Zealand
delegation to the very successful U.S. - New Zealand Climate change
talks held in Washington during August 2006, but few Kiwis seemed to
have noticed. The 50th Anniversary Celebrations will highlight
our cooperation as a domestic news story, giving it a higher
profile.


5. (SBU) While Antarctica and climate change have been the main
areas of government-to-government science cooperation in recent
years, other significant fields of scientific cooperation include
agricultural, astronomy, biomedical and biochemical research, earth
sciences, marine & zoological science, and mathematical &
information sciences. More broadly, U.S. and New Zealand core ESTH
policy interests and concerns align closely including those related
to biodiversity and CITES, fisheries, forestry and whales. New
Zealand strongly supports our position in the International Whaling
Commission, even though at times this strains GNZ's otherwise close
relationship with some Pacific Island nations.

The New Zealand Scientific Landscape
-------------- --




6. Research and development in New Zealand's economy has
traditionally focused on primary sector products -- including
agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting products -- which account
for 72 percent of goods exports, Most primary sector research has
been performed in public research institutions such as the
government enterprise Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) and tertiary
education organizations (TEOs) - which together account for nearly
70 percent of the R&D effort. More than 50 percent of New Zealand
researchers are active in non-medical biological and allied
sciences; of these most are concentrated at five of the nine CRIs,
Massey and Lincoln universities, and the dairy multinational
Fonterra.


7. For the 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 fiscal years, the Foundation for
Research, Science and Technology (FRST),the financing arm of the
New Zealand science program, has identified biosecurity, oceans,
sustainable energy, and sustainable water as its highest priority
areas. This additional focus will complement ongoing priorities for
advanced materials, energy, information technology and agricultural
biotechnology.

International Scientific Collaboration
--------------

8. International collaboration plays a vital role in New Zealand
scientific research, and New Zealand scientific papers co-authored
with overseas scientists have higher impact here (i.e., are cited
more often) than papers authored solely by New Zealanders. The U.S
science community is New Zealand's most important science partner.
Of New Zealand's 15,000 science researchers, 40 percent of them have
relationships with U.S. researchers, compared to 30 percent with
Australia, 28 percent with the United Kingdom, 14 percent with
Germany, and 7 percent with France.


9. In December 2004, New Zealand appointed Dr. Brian Young,
doctorate in behavioral neurology, as its first Science and
Technology Counselor to the U.S. New Zealand has one other science
counselor, assigned to Brussels and New Zealand's mission to the
European Union. The Ministry of Research, Science, and Technology
(MoRST) is also advancing plans for a third science counselor to be
assigned to Beijing.

MCCORMICK