Chatham Islands environmental data now live on LAWA

The Chatham Islands have officially joined the LAWA (Land, Air, Water Aotearoa) platform, marking a significant milestone in regional state of the environment reporting for one of New Zealand’s most remote regions.

From today, residents, researchers, and decision-makers can explore environmental river and lake water quality data and monitoring results from the Chatham Islands on the LAWA website, including insights into water quality state and trends.

Paul Eagle, Chief Executive of the Chatham Islands Council, said the inclusion is a win for the community.

“This is about visibility. For the first time, our environmental data, and river and lake monitoring results, are accessible alongside other regions across Aotearoa. It empowers our community and supports better decision-making.”

Environment Canterbury support the Chatham Islands Council and Dr Elaine Moriarty, Acting Chief Scientist at Environment Canterbury, said the Chatham Islands are ecologically unique. “Making this data publicly available helps us all understand and protect this special environment.”

The launch coincides with World Rivers Day, a global celebration of freshwater ecosystems, reinforcing the importance of local state of the environment reporting in global conversations.

LAWA is a partnership between the Te Uru Kahika - Regional and Unitary Councils Aotearoa, Cawthron Institute, the Ministry for the Environment, the Department of Conservation, Stats NZ, and has been supported by the Tindall Foundation and Massey University.

LAWA is designed to make regional environmental data and state of the environment reporting easy to access and understand.

To explore the Chatham Islands data, visit www.lawa.org.nz(external link) and click the Chathams Islands topic.