Panel looking at climate change

Workshops consider scientific information

Thursday’s Strategy, Operations and Finance meeting included a update by Jim Bolger on the work of the Takutai Kā piti Coastal Adaptation Panel. This panel of independent community members aims to bring together a community perspective on what to do about climate change to bring recommendations to council. They are currently embarking on a series of workshops across the district to discuss approaches to Coastal Adaptation in the future.

Following a presentation from a member of the public providing some scientific information around coastal projections and scenarios, there was robust discussion around how we deal with differing expert evidence and information. The job of the panel alongside the Technical Advisory Group is to weigh up this scientific information when providing advice to council. As Mr Bolger pointed out, experts have differing views on all sorts of issues, and there needs to be a considered approach with deciding which views to apply.

The impacts of climate change will differ according to where buildings and people are situated, so that’s one of the reasons there are a number of workshops across the district.

The job of the panel is advisory, to gather information, listen to the community and analyse expert advice. One of the panel members is Dr Martin Manning, who helped draft the first Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change report for the United Nations, and the Technical Advisory Group has a wealth of skill and experience. Mana Whenua have also been involved.

We need to do this work to help us decide where houses and infrastructure should be built in the future, and make sure we prevent unwise building decisions. Where houses are built is determined now, but these decisions will have a significant effect in the future.

A number of other concerns were raised at the meeting, including the lack of diversity amongst those participating so far. A particular concern is making sure young people are involved in these decisions.

Cyclone Gabrielle has reinforced that mother nature can be a very, very brutal boss. The costs are unbelievable. We will need to respond to climate change to safeguard our future in our vulnerable coastal areas.