New Zealand is investing too little science and research into how climate change affects nearby oceans, a climate academic says.
Victoria University Professor of Climate Change, Dave Frame Photo: RNZ / Chris Bramwell
Maritime and Defence Force personnel met in Wellington yesterday to discuss the challenges and security of the oceans in coming decades.
Dave Frame from Victoria University's climate change research institute was speaking at the event.
He said the tropical reaches of the Indian and Pacific oceans were warming at a faster rate than other seas.
He said the research was lacking.
"The ground zero of the problem is in the atmosphere and heat uptake and carbon uptake by the ocean.
"And we really don't invest as much as you might expect us to given how central those areas are to the impacts we feel."
Prof Frame said that put New Zealand in a vulnerable position because the country relied on those areas for trade.
He said more investment in research and the science of climate change was needed to prepare for the future.
