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Environmental Sensing for Real Time Resource Management document

This document was published in July 2007. Full text below.

1. Introduction

Globally, large-scale environmental sensor network applications play an increasingly important role in real-time resource management.  Measuring and forecasting the effect of resource use and natural hazards on environmental quality allows for the first time to sustainably and competitively manage the environment in real-time.  This knowledge, when integrally linked to resource decisions and markets, can enable New Zealand to not only sustainably manage resources but also maintain a competitive advantage in increasingly discerning global markets.

The development and application of interlinked real-time sensing technologies and ecoinformatics¹ can enable smart management of our natural resources.

The real-time dimension of data gathering and resource management can lift resource efficiency and environmental outcomes while creating new business opportunities.  Precise data and forecasting can optimize our management – ranging from ‘on the farm’ to regional and national decision making – of irrigation, fertiliser application, seeding and harvest, hazard preparedness, biodiversity, waste management, energy extraction, groundwater etc.

What is the opportunity? Why is the outcome important for NZ?

New market & business opportunities.

The emergence of new markets in ecosystem services and the revenues associated with these offer new business opportunities² .  Additional opportunities arise from the development and commercialisation of high tech sensors, informatics and associated products³ .

Sensor networks can be integrated into the Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting requirements of public and private sector certification systems and environmental conventions⁴ .  Offshore markets increasingly demand environmental performance and traceability information such as supply chain tracking and ecoverification.  This offers New Zealand businesses an opportunity to (i) position themselves in a growing international market, and (ii) capitalize on existing US and EU international R&D investment targeted linkages specifically across the Pacific Rim on sensing and integrated data systems.

Improved environmental outcomes

Sensor networks combined with ecoinformatics can deliver a real-time image of the environmental state across a wide range of areas^5.

Sensor networks provide quality and cost effective resource management information.  Armed with real-time data, informed predictions and management decision tools, resource managers are able to act at the time when issues arise and before problems become irreversible⁶ .  Environmental sensor networks provide the means to investigate resource management options in a timely manner so as to optimise environmental outcomes. 

Significant cost savings

Spending can be significantly reduced via more efficient resource use⁷ . It has been estimated that 5% savings on fertiliser application at the farm can save New Zealand around $50m per annum and further reduce costs to address consequences of nutrient run-off into waterways.

In addition, real-time sensing can significantly reduce Regional Authority compliance monitoring costs (eg point source discharges) and enable early intervention. The impetus is to make environmental data relevant at the individual resource user level, who with the help of decision analysis tools is in a position to better optimize resource decisions.

The integration of sensor networks further has the potential to transform industries which require the collection of a wide range of natural resource information, such as fisheries and forestry⁸ .

Lastly, significant cost savings can be made by more accurate prediction of catastrophes and problems. Resource managers are increasingly looking for real-time predictive capability of hazards⁹ . Such tools can give early warnings and allow for more cost-effective hazard preparedness. This also applies to managing land slide and earthquake hazards as well as pollution and algal blooms around marine farms.

Enhanced resource use

Set within the limited carrying capacity of ecosystem services, real-time sensing offers a platform for precision resource management and optimised resource efficiency (e.g. precision agriculture and aquaculture). Environmental sensing benefits are realized most where a resource is at or near full capacity.  For example, measuring variables relating to water flow enables resource managers and farmers to make informed decisions about how to manage water take for best effect.  Linked in with precision irrigation on the farm, resource efficiency is achieved through optimised nitrogen application and significant reduction of effluent runoff into local waterways.

A sustainability knowledge base is increasingly required to link New Zealand product to international markets and there is substantial economic value associated with a precision management approach.

To precisely measure the dynamics of our ecosystems is a crucial transformational change that can enable us to address the intertwined challenges of added value productivity, trade access, and environmental sustainability. Linked to resource decisions this knowledge can enable New Zealand to maintain a competitive advantage in global markets.  New Zealand can protect and capitalize on its clean green branding by managing our ecosystems for sustainable competitive advantage.

What is the critical contribution from RS&T?

R&D is critical for the development and adoption of high tech sensor network applications¹⁰ to the New Zealand sustainable resource management context.  Existing R&D capabilities in electronics, sensor technology, ecoinformatics, data systems, environmental disciplines, and resource management form the core capabilities and the basis to build up from.

Some fundamental infrastructure is in place with the New Zealand Advanced Network. Quality rural communication services remain a limiting factor in the wider application of distributed sensor networks at this stage.

New Zealand has the market and resource management imperatives in place.  To benefit from the opportunities offered by sensor networks requires (i) closer integration of R&D with end-user needs, (ii) increased capacity to accelerate the application of technology, and (iii) assistance with product development and commercialisation of R&D innovations.

2. 2020 Possibility

By 2020 our oceans, rivers, farms, forests, cities and countryside are embedded with sensor networks providing continuous real-time data on flows of matter and energy. User systems are able to respond to environmental changes and support complex interactive decisions without human intervention.  Data are displayed real-time as virtual three-dimensional images and inform managers, communities and individual consumers.  Environmental data and predictions are relevant at the individual resource user level, driving personal accountability, resource optimization and adaptive management.

Early interventions lead to significant compliance costs savings and environmental outcomes are maximized.  Complex forecasting of geological hazards and climate events increases New Zealand’s preparedness and ability to mitigate and adapt. Consumers in global markets are purchasing New Zealand premium products because they can validate their origins from New Zealand’s technologically advanced and environmentally sustainable farms, orchards, forests and fisheries.

New Zealand is investing in areas underpinning research associated with the development of environmental sensor networks¹¹. Emerging networks present in 2007 will have matured, are now nationally distributed and associated with innovation research networks and sensor technology companies.

New market opportunities in ecosystem services, improved resource efficiency and the commercialisation of technical innovation are generating significant revenues allowing on-going R&D and innovation activity to be supported.  Acquisition and merger activity is a feature of the technology sector as well as significant private sector investment.  International investment in sensing and data system linkages is expanding the market for NZ environmental sensor application products.

3. Current state

Environmental sensing technologies are one area of New Zealand R&D investment in applied/experimental environmental research.  Approximately 55% of all national environmental research, or $67 million¹², is applied/experimental.  The environmental research funded by the FRST environment output expense shows the same distribution, amounting to $47 million of applied/experimental research in 2005/06.  This includes funding of research organisations and businesses for the development and application of environmental sensor technology.  These existing R&D capabilities in the development of environmental sensing applications can be built upon.

Data management is closely linked to sensor networks and MoRST’s work on national data infrastructure and backbone funding focuses in this area.  There are 26 New Zealand databases and collections of national significance which are FRST funded at approximately $15-20m¹³.  Central/local government and CRIs operate several additional databases.  MoRST is in the process of developing policy to enable stable backbone funding for databases and collections of national importance.  A national data management infrastructure is beginning to evolve with first demonstration models¹⁴ .

Regional Councils and the agriculture sector are major sponsors and end users of environmental sensor networks (mainly water allocation/quality, nutrient budgeting, and waste management).  Environmental sensing R&D is a key part of the $3.9m Pastoral Industry Tender Investment in Environment by Fonterra, Dairy InSight, Meat & Wool NZ and FRST.  The Earthquake Commission and GNS Science collaboration on the Geonet project, an evolving wireless sensor network to monitor and predict geological hazards, is a further example of large-scale investment in sensor R&D. Equally, the Metservice runs an extensive environmental sensor network and commercial weather forecasting service.

The NZTE Growth Services Fund, Enterprise Development Grant, and Regional Partnership Programme provide approximately $60m p.a. for business innovation and commercialization, 40% of which is invested in ICT.  R&D activity is evident across a range of business sectors specialising in sensor technology development and deployment, rural communication services, data management systems, ecoinformatics, end user application tools and the commercialisation of products¹⁵.

4. Changes required

Over and above existing changes already underway in the science system, there are five priority changes/interventions related to RS&T that would enable the achievement of the 2020 state.  These are:

• Multi-agency strategy identifying environmental sensing priorities and pathways to commercialisation;
• Strengthened investment in RS&T focused on development and piloting of sensor networks;
• More integrative research providing models tailored for resource managers and policy makers;
• Strengthened environmental data management and standards; and 
• Strengthened support for product and service development, linking end users, industry, research and software business.
  

Appendix 1: Case Studies

High tech solutions transform water management in New Zealand’s thirstiest province

Canterbury consumes 58% of the nation’s water, due largely to its high use of irrigation to support its agricultural and horticultural industries. “We use a lot of water in Canterbury”, explains Environment Canterbury Chief Executive Officer Dr. Bryan Jenkins.  “And we’re getting thirstier. Problem is, increasing rates of irrigation aren’t sustainable from a resource or regulatory perspective.  We need to manage for sustainability without reducing productivity or increasing the cost of regulation.  ”Early trials of a novel environmental monitoring network suggest that effective solutions will come in the form of new technologies.

Environment Canterbury in partnership with Scott Technical Instruments developed a network of sensors in the Te Ngawai river catchment in 2005.  These sensors measured a number of variables related to river flow, water usage and weather conditions, and were linked by mobile communication technology to a website where real time information from the sensors was displayed.  Despite slow rates of data transmission in rural areas, access to accurate information enabled farmers to make better water extraction decisions and collectively, improve management of the resource.   Farmers were much more likely to keep within the limits of their resource consent.   Because river flow data were available farmers were able to manage their combined take to avoid putting the river on restriction.   The range of instrumentation is now being expanded to include soil moisture measurement in a further trial in Chertsey so that farmers have better information to know when and how much to irrigate.

“It’s a win-win-win”, states Jenkins.  “This technology offers environmental benefits, productivity gains for farmers and a cost saving for us.  It’s much cheaper to monitor by remote control.   If we had data standards to enable this approach to be widely applied the potential is huge.  ”And the benefits need not be limited to water management.   Sensing technology can increase farm productivity by informing decisions on when to plant, when to apply water and fertiliser, and how to manage pests, all the while offering environmental benefits and cost savings for resource managers. Similar technologies offer exporters accurate traceability and assurances of quality in increasingly discerning world markets.

Scott Technical Instruments South Island Manager Blair Miller believes increased R&D focus can deliver these benefits and more.  “At the moment the domestic market is small, so development costs are high.  If New Zealand’s productive sector is to benefit from the opportunities provided by environmental sensing technologies, developers need to be supported to produce and pilot sensing technologies, as well as the data management systems and software tools that will be necessary to make use of the data.”  Given the economic importance of our productive sector, increased focus in this area would have a significant impact in coming years.

Better environmental management to leverage traditional strengths and grow new industry

New Zealand’s primary sector needs to get more value from a limited resource in a way that doesn’t spoil our resources for future generations.   esearch, development and application of environmental sensing technologies provide means of tackling these challenges, all the while fostering the development of niche Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industries in which New Zealand could be a world leader.

MediaLab is an Information and Communications Technology R&D company hoping to realise this potential.  MediaLab combines the expertise of researchers and developers with technology end-users and Government stakeholders to develop and test innovative ICT solutions for a number of industry sectors.  “We firmly believe in the link between research, development and economic gain”, states MediaLab Chief Executive Officer Phil Shepherd. “New Zealand can’t rely on the old ways of doing things.  Economic transformation means working smarter, not working harder.”

MediaLab’s Farmgate research programme has a range of initiatives designed to support the primary sector, including a project to improve farm effluent management.  Effluent includes nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous which, if not applied correctly, can leach into waterways; an effect that has increased as farming has intensified in recent decades.  MediaLab’s environmental management system tackles this problem by remotely measuring variables relating to soil moisture and temperature, irrigation, fertiliser application and effluent flow, and combining data in an analytical software package that would enable farmers to make informed decisions about when to apply effluent for best effect.

The net result is a management system optimised for the farmer’s specific conditions, with flow on effects for productivity, and a significant reduction of effluent runoff into local waterways. “Farmers need not work to averages as far as applying effluent goes”, says Programme Manager Bridgit Hawkins. “With this technology they can increase productivity and take responsibility for their own environmental footprint.” Uptake of the technology bodes well for regulatory bodies also, providing a cost-effective means to monitor compliance with environmental regulations.

MediaLab’s work also offers economic opportunities.  One project is underway with a range of industry partners to enable traceability of New Zealand primary sector products from farm to plate, offering competitive advantage and added value in international markets increasingly characterised by discerning consumers and concerns around biosecurity.  “Application of sensing technologies and associated tools could facilitate the most significant transformation of our primary sector since refrigeration”, says Shepherd.  And the benefits don’t end there.  “New Zealand firms could lead the world in this field.  There is a large and growing market for high tech environmental management systems for farms worldwide.”

Hans Frauenlob, Sector Director for ICT at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, echoes Shepherd’s optimism. “Opportunities for innovation arise when research/business partnerships are formed. Medialab is a useful model of how market-led projects can bring in all the necessary players to make the value chain work and stimulate economic growth".

Footnotes

1 The development of informatics solutions for the ecologic and environmental sciences; ecoinformatics facilitates environmental research and management by developing ways to integrate databases of environmental information and computational services such as predictive models, analytical, and planning tools.

2 e.g. net interest earned from carbon accumulation (e.g. soils) or from developing biodiversity markets (e.g. the wetland offset market currently active in the US)

3 e.g. primary production information systems and decision analysis tools

4 e.g. intergovernmental agreements (Montreal Process) and intergovernmental legal instruments (Kyoto Protocol, Convention on Biological Diversity)

5 e.g. carbon sequestration, soil nutrient budgets, forest condition, air/water quality, pollution, biosecurity, unstable slopes, ground subsistence, crack propagation and earthquakes

6 e.g. biosecurity invasions, biodiversity loss, hill/high country/coastal erosion, flood forecasting, water resource allocation, nutrient budgeting at the farm, earthquake/landslide forecasting and climate forecasting

7 e.g. no leakage of nutrients to waterways saves fertiliser costs; more targeted pest control saves expensive toxin applications

8 Marine - Ocean Survey 2020 presents a transformational opportunity to study the seabed and associated communities and is largely based on environmental remote sensing from mobile platforms. Forests - sensor networks (assessing forest growth, disease infection, and wood quality) would enhance forest productivity and utilisation by limiting forest visits while at the same time enabling better prediction of wood product grade and quality.

9 e.g. catchment based flood forecasting systems that deliver advance and accurate warnings

10 includes embedded  networks of sensors as well as mobile applications (e.g. planes, ships, boats, submersibles, remote operated vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles)

11 with focus on adapting existing and developing new technologies

12 2004 Research and Development in New Zealand Survey

13 Pending scope definition.

14 e.g. Ocean Survey 2020, Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity Information System, National Soils Information Database

15 For example AgResearch, Dexcel, EcoConnect, Ensis, Gallagher, Geospatial Research and Commercialization Center, HortResearch, iQuest, Innovation Waikato, Lincoln Ventures (Lincoln University subsidiary), Medialab, New Zealand Centre for Precision Agriculture, Radiola, Rissington Breedlines, Scott Technical Instruments, Sirtack (Landcare Research subsidiary), Syft Technology, Telecom, Terralink, Unidata (NIWA subsidiary) and others. 

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