The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and Stats NZ have won the biennial award for Excellence in Science Communication from the Science Communicators Association of New Zealand (SCANZ) for a report on climate change in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The SCANZ award recognises the “Our atmosphere and climate 2020” (OAC2020) report published by the Ministry and Stats NZ in October 2020, as an outstanding example of communication of science to a non-scientific audience.
Jointly published with Stats NZ as part of their ongoing Environmental Reporting Programme, the OAC 2020 is a health check on the state of the climate and atmosphere in New Zealand. It presents evidence of how our activities create emissions, which are changing the climate and impacting on our wellbeing.
The SCANZ judging panel praised the way the Ministry and Stats NZ were able to successfully convert complex climate data into a wide variety of digestible and engaging formats tailored to specific audiences with very different perspectives.
Our Chief Science Advisor Alison Collins says the award demonstrates MfE and Stats NZ’s shared commitment to ensuring the environmental reporting programme brings together the best available science, mātauranga and data on the issues that matter most to New Zealanders.
“We are delighted to have the OAC 2020 report and the related communications recognised by the judges as an outstanding example of the way complex information can be effectively communicated to a to a variety of audiences. Behind the environmental reporting programme is a diverse team of scientists, statisticians, analysts, writers, and advisors, all committed to ensuring the information we release is robust, relevant, well-communicated and accessible. We will continue to aim for best practice in all aspects of our environment reporting.”
The report was turned into a series of educational resources by Waikato University’s Science Learning Hub (SLH), and was used as a foundation for MfE’s Our Climate Future campaign. The campaign aims to generate public conversation about climate change far beyond the release of the report. This included a suite of resources, including a series of videos, most of which were based on case studies contained in the report, an online comic about climate change produced in partnership with The Spinoff, and a bilingual pop-up exhibition that toured the country to encourage conversations in local communities.
“The report represents an impressive collaboration between people at Stats NZ and MfE, external science and mātauranga advisors and data providers like NIWA. At the very heart of the report are the statistics and key findings we produce from climate data,” said Stats NZ Deputy Chief Executive Rachael Milicich. “The SLH teaching materials extended the reach of this evidence of climate change, sharing it with young New Zealanders and encouraging them to explore climate change using data from their own back yard.”
The Our Climate Future social media campaign has reached more than 560K people across New Zealand and has achieved over 840K impressions. The videos produced as part of the campaign have also had over 137K views with the Our Climate Future short film [YouTube] receiving 35K video views. The travelling exhibition has also now been seen by an estimated 60,000 people at locations in Wānaka, Palmerston North, Wellington, Kāpiti and Nelson – with plenty of locations still to go.
The award includes a $1000 cash prize that will be donated to the Sir Peter Blake Trust, which encourages young New Zealanders to care for the environment and aims to instil a deeper sense of kaitiakitanga.
Nigel Wong
027 286 7234
media@mfe.govt.nz
Ann Kennedy-Perkins
021 285 9191
communications@stats.govt.nz