The pressure on our environment is increasing as the human population grows. Environmental Sciences provide a basis for understanding environmental problems, and finding solutions to them.

The growing human population is expected to exceed 9 billion within the next 40 years.  The need to provide for increasing human demands, while protecting and sustainably managing the environment, is one of our greatest global challenges. Environmental Science is at the core of this challenge.

A major in Environmental Sciences at Waikato encompasses ecology, earth sciences, and environmental chemistry as well as many other disciplines. It is about understanding and managing human impacts on our land, biodiversity, freshwater, oceans, atmosphere and climate while providing the food, water, energy, and mineral resource needs that are critical to our survival.

At Waikato we take a strong interdisciplinary approach so you will gain skills in applying the biological, chemical and earth sciences to understand and manage the impacts of human activities on the environment.

Waikato is a great region in which to base your Environmental Science studies. We have easy access to a wide range of natural environments as well as some of the most intensive farming and processing industries in New Zealand. Our field trips and study examples include coastal estuarine environments, the Waikato and Waihou Rivers, a wide range of lakes. World heritage listed Whangamarino wetland, leading international examples of predator pest control at Maungatautari, and many native forest ecological restoration sites are all within easy reach of the University of Waikato.