NZ ‘unready for warming’
Report finds lack of awareness in which communities most at risk — and how they’ll act
Researchers say we need to do much more to find out which communities will be hardest hit by climate change — and how we should meet the threat.
A report out yesterday has found big gaps in understanding how Kiwi communities will respond to the higher seas and more intense storms and flooding in a warmer world.
Our seas could be up to 30cm higher by 2050, and up to a metre higher by the close of the century, threatening tens of thousands of homes and businesses, and more than $200 billion in public assets and infrastructure.
Despite this, New Zealand remains without a nationally co-ordinated plan to adapt to climate change.
“Climate adaptation processes need to be carefully designed and delivered, especially for the more vulnerable,” said Janet Stephenson, director of the University of Otago’s Centre for Sustainability, and author of the report released by the Deep South National Science Challenge.
Councils and other bodies would need to be pro-active in working with those communities in the firing line.
“Iwi and community members will need to be involved in climate change adaptation processes, and be in a position to make informed decisions about their future.”
Priority areas for more research included pinpointing who would be the worst affected and why, finding which schemes were best suited to tackle flooding in exposed communi- ties, and understanding how agencies could better help them.
“For example, law and policy need to be fit-for-purpose for the new challenges of climate change,” Stephenson said.
A pair of new research projects, also announced yesterday, would seek to answer some of those pressing questions.
One led by Stephenson would look to flood-prone South Dunedin and the Hutt Valley to investigate how councils worked with residents.
“Our project also focuses on more vulnerable community members to consider whether additional actions — not just engagement — are needed to ensure they are not further marginalised by adaptation processes,” she said.
“We are also surveying councils around New Zealand to see how they are engaging with their communities on adaptation processes.”
The other project, led by Patrick Walsh of Manaaki Whenua — Landcare Research, would focus on flood mitigation schemes.
His work would explore whether or not all flood-prone settlements had schemes in place, and maps where these were using council data.
The Government has issued new guidance setting out a 10-step process for councils and communities based on the latest science.
It offered four scenarios, ranging from a best-case scenario where the world was successful in ceasing carbon emissions by 2100, through to a scenario where emissions increased and the polar ice sheets melted faster than expected.