Research Projects

Global Conflict NZ

Nuclear war was explored and discussed by both the Commission for the Future (1982) and the New Zealand Planning Council (1978–1993). The nuclear issue, raised by the Commission for the Future, was often believed to have led to the disestablishment of the Commission (see the video Lessons from the Commission for the Future with Hon Hugh Templeton, 2010).

Resources

  • A PDF of New Zealand after Nuclear War (1987). See Table 1.

  • PDFs of the 19 background papers published to support New Zealand after Nuclear War (1987). See Table 1.

  • Press coverage of New Zealand after Nuclear War (1986–1988). See Table 2.

  • PDFs of the 77 endnote references in Discussion Paper 2022/03. See Table 3.

Latest publication

Discussion Paper 2022/03 – Nuclear War: Are we prepared?

Visit Discussion papers

We are fortunate that Wren Green agreed to revisit his earlier report, New Zealand after Nuclear War (August 1987), co-authored with Tony Cairns and Judith Wright. This resulted in Discussion Paper 2022/03 – Nuclear War: Are we prepared?

Wren Green led a 1986 government-funded investigation into the consequences for New Zealand of nuclear war. He was lead author of a 1984 report by the NZ Ecological Society on the environmental consequences of nuclear war for New Zealand and participated in international meetings about nuclear winter impacts. After this project investigation he was a senior manager in the Department of Conservation. He subsequently worked as a consultant across science, conservation, biosecurity and international development areas and held a range of positions in scientific and non-governmental organisations. Wren has an honours degree from Victoria University in 1967 and a PhD in ecology from the University of British Columbia as a Commonwealth Scholar.

Table 1: Nuclear war publications

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Table 2: Press coverage of New Zealand after Nuclear War (1986–1988)

This table lists nuclear war press coverage, arranged chronologically.

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Table 3: References for Discussion Paper 2022/03 – Nuclear War: Are we prepared?

This table lists all references, including those specific to the 1987 report New Zealand after Nuclear War. We have also provided PDFs of external sources in Table 3 below.

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