New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND IS located in Oceania, southeast of Australia. The islands that make up the nation are mostly mountainous, with a few wide coastal plains. About 80 percent of the population of 4 million lives in urban areas, leaving most of the country free from major human intrusion. It is one of the most beautiful and pristine environments in the world, and its economy, based on tourism, agriculture, and forestry, is largely dependent on the stability of that environment.

As in neighboring Australia, New Zealand is confronting the probability of prolonged droughts in the near future. In the best-case scenario, severe droughts will be twice as frequent by 2080 as they are today, and in some areas, drought could become perpetual even before 2080. Not only ...