NZ could be humanity’s ‘lifeboat’

Scientists have singled out New Zealand as a potential “ark” to reboot civilisation if a deadly pandemic swept the planet.

A study published in Risk Analysis suggested that New Zealand, along with Australia and Iceland, could serve as “lifeboats” to help humanity recover from a full-scale extinction event.

One of the authors, Professor Nick Wilson of Otago University, said that threat had never been higher, with the threat increasing as technology advances.

“Discoveries in biotechnology could see a genetically engineered pandemic threaten the survival of our species,” he said.

“Though carriers of disease can easily circumvent land borders, a closed self-sufficient island could harbour an isolated, technologically adept population that could repopulate the earth following a disaster.”

To identify those best islands to prepare as refuges, the researchers devised a scoring system taking into account the characteristics of each island nation’s population, location, resources and society.

The results showed Australia to be the most favourable refuge on paper, because of its vast oversupply of energy and food.

It was closely followed by New Zealand and then Iceland.

The researchers ranked island nations with populations of more than 250,000 as possible refuges, considering that the larger the population, the more likely it was that the refuge would ultimately be able to reboot global civilisation.

The researchers say that for such a strategy to succeed, preparations must be made ahead of time.

They suggest that New Zealand consider investing in resiliency measures and rehearse the rapid introduction of border controls.

Previous research by the same authors has shown border closure to be a costeffective measure in major pandemic situations, where thousands of New Zealanders could potentially die, such as in a repeat of the 1918 flu.