18 August 2006
Forget your stocks, bonds and savings, its actually soil that makes the world go round and 150 soil science delegates will be in Rotorua later this year to prove it.
The "Soils and Society 2006" Conference is being held in Rotorua in November. The conference is being organised by Ensis on behalf of The New Zealand Society of Soil Science (NZSSS) and is supported by gold sponsor, the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust. Ensis is the unincorporated joint venture between Crown Research Institute, Scion and CSIRO in Australia.
"Forestry, dairy and horticulture are among New Zealand’s main industries and all of them rely heavily on soil, "says Ensis soil scientist, and coordinator of this conference, Dr Guna Magesan.
"It is a known fact that 17 per cent of New Zealand’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) depends on the top 15 centimetres of our country’s soil," he says.
It has been estimated that a total of $2.16 billion of our GDP could be at risk if New Zealand fails to maintain and manage the quality of its soil and water resources.
"In addition, the water quality of Rotorua’s lakes is a significant issue for our community and soil is an effective natural water filter which will be investigated further at the conference," says Dr Magesan.
The Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust chairman Grahame Hall says the organisation was keen to be involved because the conference deals with issues and solutions close to home, as well as nationwide.
The Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust was the first to sign on to support the "Soils & Society 2006" conference, but they were quickly joined by several other organisations with varying levels of sponsorship including Environment Bay of Plenty, Environment Waikato , the Ministry of the Environment, SLURI, Massey University and Ballance Agri-nutrients. It is due to the combined effort of these organisations that the "Soils & Society 2006" conference is taking place.
The conference will feature two and a half days of technical sessions and a full-day field trip. Oral and poster presentations will take place at Rydges Hotel, Rotorua and they will include keynote speakers and the Norman Taylor Memorial Lecture.
On the second day, the conference’s field trip will visit a farm where delegates will see first hand how land and soil are formed and how they work together to solve environmental issues.
For more information on the conference please visit New Zealand Society of Soil Science website www.nzsss.rsnz.org.
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