Along with a need to better
understand the climate and biophysical
systems of New Zealand, the need to
develop an improved capacity for
evaluating possible changes in climate and
their effects on the New Zealand
environment has been recognised.
Since the middle of 1993 the CLIMPACTS
programme, has been focused on the development of
such a capacity, in the first instance for the
agricultural sector. the goals of this
present assessment are:
1. To present current knowledge on likely
scenarios of climate change and
associated uncertainties in New
Zealand;
2. To present current knowledge, based on
quantitative analyses using a consistent
set of scenarios, on the likely effects of
climate change on a range of
agricultural and horticultural crops of
economic importance;
3. To demonstrate, by way of this report
and the associated technical report, the capacity that
has been developed for ongoing
assessments of this kind in New
Zealand. This report has been prepared for both the
science and policy communities in New
Zealand. There are two main components:
1. The detailed findings of the assessment,
presented in a series of chapters;
2. An annex, which contains technical
details on models used in the
assessment.
