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The New ZealandThe government has released new plans to prepare the country to deal with the devastating effects of climate change.
These are the proposalsConsultations are available On Wednesday, outline major reforms to institutions and laws. These reforms will be made to prevent people from building in dangerous areas, preserve cultural treasures and improve disaster response, protect the financial sector from the shocks caused by future disasters, and reform key industries like tourism and fisheries.
“The climate is already changing and there will be some effects we cannot avoid,” climate change minister James Shaw said. “Just in the last few months we have seen massive floods, such as those in Tairawhiti; storms, such as those experienced recently in Westport; fires in the Waituna wetlands in Southland; and droughts right across the country.”
“These events demonstrate the case for urgent action on climate change – action to protect lives, incomes, homes, businesses and infrastructure.”
Over the past year, New Zealand has been repeatedly struck by severe flooding. Tairawhiti was struck by its second devastating flood in less than one year in March. Flood waters caused damage to homes, schools, and infrastructure. Residents agree would “take about a year to clean up”. Flooding in Westport last year left 450 homes without water or damage.
At the forefront of the plan is the challenge of how to adapt New Zealand’s cities and housing stock – much of which is coastal – to the risk of rising seas and flood waters.
According to the government, the scale of the problem is enormous: 675,000 people – one in seven New Zealanders – live in areas prone to flooding, amounting to nearly $100bn worth of residential buildings. Another 72,065 people live in areas that are expected to be affected by extreme sea level rise.
“The number of people exposed to these hazards will increase as the climate changes,” the report says. The report found that climate change alone caused $840m in economic and insured losses and damages to New Zealanders between 2007 and 2017. These figures are a serious problem for homeowners who may lose their ability to insure their homes as the risks rise. Some communities revolt in furious fashionWhen trying to move them away from hazards.
The government’s proposed changes, include updating the building code to make sure new builds account for climate hazards, ensuring the country’s public housing stock is built away from hazards, creating incentives for development away from high-risk areas and making it compulsory to disclose information about climate risks to prospective buyers and builders. Some of these measures could cause homeowners to be uneasy, as they are concerned that climate risk assessments will affect the value of their home.
Shaw made it clear that Shaw would not be paying the entire bill for such changes. “Central government does not bear all the costs,” he said. “The consultation asks how best to share risks and costs between property and asset owners, insurers, banks and local government as well.”
The draft National Adaptation Plan outlines actions that the government will take over six years to combat climate-related threats. It also includes suggestions for protecting cultural sites like coastal marae. [māori meeting houses]Adapting government-funded infrastructure so that it can take climatic heat into account. It also covers proposed reforms of the tourism sector to ensure international visitors “contribute to resilient, adaptable infrastructure and the natural environment they use” – possibly through an arrival fee or other taxes on tourists.
Prof Bronwyn Hayward, of University of Canterbury, said via the Science Media Centre that the plan “shows the enormity of the task facing the government after years of inaction”.
“We now need to implement climate planning guidelines across a raft of new legislation, and we need to think carefully about how people are exposed to repeated flooding effects – and I’d add fires – in the future. If homeowners, businesses, schools, ports or airports have to move away from a high-risk area for example, who pays?”
Prof Anita Wreford, of Lincoln University, said that the plan was “well overdue” and “an improvement from New Zealand’s current approach to hazards, which has been very reactive and focused on recovery after an event”.
But she said the proposals were still very high level, and needed to provide “much more guidance for decision-makers”.
“I suspect groups waiting in anticipation for this … may have hoped for more concrete direction in implementing adaptation to achieve these goals.”
Before the government finalizes the plans, the public will have the opportunity to comment on the plan.
“Aotearoa will soon have a plan to bring down our emissions and help prevent the worst effects of climate change,” Shaw said, “But we must also support communities already being hit by more extreme and more frequent weather events.”
