Dear subscriber,

We are very grateful for all the support we received over the last six months. To everyone who has read, reviewed, discussed or commented on our work: our sincerest thanks.  

There has been some delay in the publication of our reports and we would like to address this in order to bring you up to date with the direction our research has taken.

Reports 7: Exploring the Shared Goals of Māori & Report 8: Effective Māori Representation in Parliament
Our work to understand the interaction between Māori goals and a National Sustainable Development Strategy for New Zealand has been in progress for over a year now, during which time the series has evolved considerably. We now hope to publish Reports 7 and 8 and the two remaining working papers in the next four weeks. Although the conclusions might be considered contentious, we hope the reports will act as a catalyst for wider debate and reflection on matters we consider crucial to New Zealand’s long-term future. To this end, we intend to provide a brief summary of your feedback in October.

Report 9: Government-funded Science: Under the Microscope
One of our current reports in progress, Government-funded Science Under the Microscope, explores the state of government-funded science in New Zealand. The publication of this report has been postponed until September – after the World Futures Conference in July 2010. To date, we have produced Working Paper 2010/01, Exploring Long-term Policy Drivers in Science: A scan of international think tanks ; Working Paper 2009/05, Exploring New Zealand and International Government-funded Science Goals and Background Report 9a, A History of Government-funded Science from 1865–2009.

Report 10: The State of New Zealand’s Resources
The groundwork for our Report 10: The State of New Zealand’s Resources is nearly complete. A methodology for this report has been released for comment. The resulting datasets: Energy, Forestry, Water Supply, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Livestock and Crops, Minerals, Land, Biodiversity, Atmosphere, Water Quality, and Soil in New Zealand will be available on the website later this month. 

Still to come in Project 2058
Reports still to be published will cover future thinkers in New Zealand, infrastructure, food and agriculture, the state sector, and the state of New Zealand's future. With these completed, we will move into the strategy phase of Project 2058 – an exciting prospect!

We continue to closely monitor developments in genetic modification both in New Zealand and internationally, in preparation for our upcoming report The Future of Genetic Modification in New Zealand. The first two reports in the series were published in April 2008. Publication of this third report is on hold until the government completes its review of the HSNO (Methodology) Order 1998. A revision of this very important methodology has been in progress since 2002. For an update on the current status of AgResearch’s transgenic livestock programme please refer to the latest In Focus.

Named after the former Chair of the Commission for the Future, Professor James Duncan (1921–2001), the library was launched in October last year by Yvonne Curtis (see Think Piece 12 ). Later this year we hope to provide a means of searching the contents of the collection online. We will also conduct video interviews with a number of New Zealanders who have made significant contributions to the body of knowledge around future thinking. 

This year we have started to produce brief updates that enable the Institute to quickly respond to a hot topic in the media –  we call these 'In Focus'. To date we have covered three topics: transgenic animals , mining on conservation land and the Mackenzie Basin dairy discharge consents. Let us know if you like this new format and if you think there are other hot issues we should be following.

We look forward to hearing from you,

Wendy McGuinness and the rest of the Sustainable Future team