scholarly journals Climate change and freshwater ecosystems in Oceania: an assessment of vulnerability and adaptation opportunities.

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 201 ◽  
Author(s):  
K M Jenkins ◽  
R T Kingsford ◽  
G P Closs ◽  
B J Wolfenden ◽  
C D Matthaei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Environmental Flows ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Freshwater Wetlands ◽  
Snow Melt ◽  
Mountainous Regions ◽  
Elevated Salinity

Human-forced climate change significantly threatens the world’s freshwater ecosystems, through projected changes to rainfall, temperature and sea level. We examined the threats and adaptation opportunities to climate change in a diverse selection of rivers and wetlands from Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands). We found common themes, but also important regional differences. In regulated floodplain rivers in dry regions (i.e. Australia), reduced flooding projected with climate change is a veneer on current losses, but impacts ramp up by 2070. Increasing drought threatens biota as the time between floods extends. Current measures addressing water allocations and dam management can be extended to adapt to climate change, with water buy-back and environmental flows critical. Freshwater wetlands along coastal Oceania are threatened by elevated salinity as sea level rises, potentially mitigated by levee banks. In mountainous regions of New Zealand, the biodiversity of largely pristine glacial and snow melt rivers is threatened by temperature increases, particularly endemic species. Australian snow melt rivers face similar problems, compounding impacts of hydro-electric schemes. Translocation of species and control of invasive species are the main adaptations. Changes to flow regime and rising water temperatures and sea levels are the main threats of climate change on freshwater ecosystems. Besides lowering emissions, reducing impacts of water consumption and protecting or restoring connectivity and refugia are key adaptations for conservation of freshwater ecosystems. Despite these clear imperatives, policy and management has been slow to respond, even in developed regions with significant resources to tackle such complex issues.

scholarly journals Preparing for Sea-Level Rise through Adaptive Managed Retreat of a New Zealand Stormwater and Wastewater Network

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick Kool ◽  
Judy Lawrence ◽  
Martin Drews ◽  
Robert Bell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Adaptation Option ◽  
Levels Of Service ◽  
Over Time

Sea-level rise increasingly affects low-lying and exposed coastal communities due to climate change. These communities rely upon the delivery of stormwater and wastewater services which are often co-located underground in coastal areas. Due to sea-level rise and associated compounding climate-related hazards, managing these networks will progressively challenge local governments as climate change advances. Thus, responsible agencies must reconcile maintaining Levels of Service as the impacts of climate change worsen over the coming decades and beyond. A critical question is whether such networks can continue to be adapted/protected over time to retain Levels of Service, or whether eventual retreat may be the only viable adaptation option? If so, at what performance threshold? In this paper, we explore these questions for stormwater and wastewater, using a dynamic adaptive pathway planning (DAPP) approach designed to address thresholds and increasing risk over time. Involving key local stakeholders, we here use DAPP to identify thresholds for stormwater and wastewater services and retreat options, and for developing a comprehensive and area-specific retreat strategy comprising pathway portfolios, retreat phases, potential land use changes, and for exploring pathway conflicts and synergies. The result is a prototype for an area near Wellington, New Zealand, where a managed retreat of water infrastructure is being considered at some future juncture. Dynamic adaptive strategies for managed retreats can help to reduce future disruption from coastal flooding, signal land use changes early, inform maintenance, and allow for gradual budget adjustments by the agencies that can manage expenditure over time. We present this stepwise process in a pathway form that can be communicated spatially and visually, thereby making a retreat a more manageable, sequenced, adaptation option for water agencies, and the communities they serve.

scholarly journals Public understanding of climate change-related sea-level rise

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Priestley ◽  
Zoë Heine ◽  
Taciano L Milfont
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Scientific Consensus ◽  
Adaptation And Mitigation

Sea-level rise resulting from climate change is impacting coasts around the planet. There is strong scientific consensus about the amount of sea-level rise to 2050 (0.24–0.32 m) and a range of projections to 2100, which vary depending on the approach used and the mitigation measures taken to reduce carbon emissions. Despite this strong scientific consensus regarding the reality of climate change-related sea-level rise, and the associated need to engage publics in adaptation and mitigation efforts, there is a lack of empirical evidence regarding people’s understanding of the issue. Here we investigate public understanding of the amount, rate and causes of sea-level rise. Data from a representative sample of New Zealand adults showed a suprising tendency for the public to overestimate the scientifically plausible amount of sea-level rise by 2100 and to identify melting sea ice as its primary causal mechanism. These findings will be valuable for scientists communicating about sea-level rise, communicators seeking to engage publics on the issue of sea-level rise, and media reporting on sea-level rise.

scholarly journals Sea Summation : How Waterfront Urbanisation can use Hydrological Strategies While Facilitating For Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Zarah Sahib
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Great Level ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Private And Public

<p>Urban inclination has unfavourably allowed for urban development throughout New Zealand to be found either along once naturally ecologically established and natural defensive coastal shorelines, waterfronts or along reclaimed shores to be developed on top of. Through reclamation, it has shown fundamentals of how we want to live closer to the water’s edge, however in this process the lack of social and ecological space is diminishing and being catalyst residential and high end luxury private space (Dianne Menzez). Urban inclination should propose that urban waterfronts become multifunctional and facilitate towards a great public space. However with a deep attachment for the water’s edge, we orientate living ourselves towards the water which also shows an interesting argument between the city and coast relationship that also comes with increasing climate change conditions.   Climate change has been under extensive focus for frequent years, conditions of notably large New Zealand urban sites remain under threat of infringing sea level rise and storm events which are in need for proper systematic infrastructure for this adaption purpose. With significant numbers of infrastructural systems situated in close proximity to waterfront environments, the rising numbers of communities orientated towards this face vulnerability to such global issues. In events of future sea level rise, increasing flooding will definitely impact the prone waterfronts Wellington City is one of New Zealand’s most vulnerable sites to sea level rise due to its proximity to coastal edges. Its low lying surface and unsustainable infrastructure and design promotes flooding through deficient water networks.   This thesis identifies the Wellington’s post-industrial site; Centerport with proposals for intended residential development. There is however a great level of susceptibility the site does not meet needs for protection from arising climate conditions, and its current poor social relation to the wider waterfront, which this thesis intends to investigate and resolve.   Centerport remains vulnerable to being a crucial domain for connectivity to the harbor edge and coastal hazard impact compared to other waterfronts. Through the means of researching adaptive water technological systems, this thesis hopes it will provide and conceptualise an impact within private and public communities through addressing coastal resilience, waterfront resilience and provide permeable adaptive waterfront design for the arising climate conditions.</p>

scholarly journals Preparing for sea-level rise through adaptive managed retreat of a New Zealand stormwater and wastewater network

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Kool ◽  
Judith Lawrence ◽  
M Drews ◽  
R Bell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Adaptation Option ◽  
Levels Of Service ◽  
Over Time

Sea-level rise increasingly affects low-lying and exposed coastal communities due to climate change. These communities rely upon the delivery of stormwater and wastewater services which are often co-located underground in coastal areas. Due to sea-level rise and associated compounding climate-related hazards, managing these networks will progressively challenge local governments as climate change advances. Thus, responsible agencies must reconcile maintaining Levels of Service as the impacts of climate change worsen over the coming decades and beyond. A critical question is whether such networks can continue to be adapted/protected over time to retain Levels of Service, or whether eventual retreat may be the only viable adaptation option? If so, at what performance threshold? In this paper, we explore these questions for stormwater and wastewater, using a dynamic adaptive pathway planning (DAPP) approach designed to address thresholds and increasing risk over time. Involving key local stakeholders, we here use DAPP to identify thresholds for stormwater and wastewater services and retreat options, and for developing a comprehensive and area-specific retreat strategy comprising pathway portfolios, retreat phases, potential land use changes, and for exploring pathway conflicts and synergies. The result is a prototype for an area near Wellington, New Zealand, where a managed retreat of water infrastructure is being considered at some future juncture. Dynamic adaptive strategies for managed retreats can help to reduce future disruption from coastal flooding, signal land use changes early, inform maintenance, and allow for gradual budget adjustments by the agencies that can manage expenditure over time. We present this stepwise process in a pathway form that can be communicated spatially and visually, thereby making a retreat a more manageable, sequenced, adaptation option for water agencies, and the communities they serve.

scholarly journals Public understanding of climate change-related sea-level rise

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254348
Author(s):  
Rebecca K. Priestley ◽  
Zoë Heine ◽  
Taciano L. Milfont
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Scientific Consensus ◽  
Adaptation And Mitigation

Sea-level rise resulting from climate change is impacting coasts around the planet. There is strong scientific consensus about the amount of sea-level rise to 2050 (0.24–0.32 m) and a range of projections to 2100, which vary depending on the approach used and the mitigation measures taken to reduce carbon emissions. Despite this strong scientific consensus regarding the reality of climate change-related sea-level rise, and the associated need to engage publics in adaptation and mitigation efforts, there is a lack of empirical evidence regarding people’s understanding of the issue. Here we investigate public understanding of the amount, rate and causes of sea-level rise. Data from a representative sample of New Zealand adults showed a suprising tendency for the public to overestimate the scientifically plausible amount of sea-level rise by 2100 and to identify melting sea ice as its primary causal mechanism. These findings will be valuable for scientists communicating about sea-level rise, communicators seeking to engage publics on the issue of sea-level rise, and media reporting on sea-level rise.

scholarly journals REVIEW: Noted: Pacific climate change doco lacks ‘media impact’

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 306
Author(s):  
Taberannang Korauaba
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Media Impact ◽  
And Sea Level

"On the night the The Hungry Tide was screened on Māori Television in New Zealand, our family was having a farewell party for our relatives returning to Kiribati the next day. We sat cross-legged on a mat in a circle while women prepared meals for everyone... of course our family members were going to watch the 'movie' rather than a documentary. They were going to re-connect their memories of Kiribati through this film. Not suprisingly, climate change and sea level rise are already a disaster on the minds of these people."

scholarly journals A plan nobody hopes they will need: New Zealand and climate change migration

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Cass
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Key Players ◽  
Effective Policy ◽  
Areas Of Concern ◽  
Evacuation Plan

At the Second Pacific Climate Change conference in Wellington in February 2018, New Zealand’s Minister for Pacific Peoples, ‘Aupito Tofae Su’a William Sio, said New Zealand must have policies in place to deal with the possibility of climate induced migration from the Pacific Islands. He described having such a policy in place as being akin to a factory preparing an evacuation plan in case of an earthquake: A vital precaution for something everybody hoped would never be needed. But what would that policy look like, how far forward would planners have to think, what issues are involved and who would be responsible for making sure it was effective? This article examines four key areas of concern that will have to be dealt with if an effective policy on climate change-induced migration is to be developed: Public perceptions, the law, maintaining Island culture and identity and changing the existing media narrative on social change. It identifies three groups of key players in the process: Legislators and legal experts, churches and journalists.

scholarly journals Insuring property under climate change

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Storey ◽  
Ilan Noy
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
High Tide ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Emissions Scenario

Climate change will increasingly create severe risks for  New Zealand’s coastal housing stock. Even a small amount of sea level rise will substantially exacerbate the costs of flooding and storm surges (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2015). Under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) three mitigation scenarios, global average sea levels are likely to rise by between 28cm and 73cm by 2100 (above the 1986–2005 average). Under the IPCC’s high emissions scenario the sea level is likely to rise by between 52cm and 98cm by 2100 (IPCC, 2013). Only collapse of parts of the Antarctic ice sheet, if triggered, could cause the sea level to rise substantially above these ranges. Some regions in New Zealand (including the main urban centres) have high enough quality geographic data to infer the number of homes at risk. In those regions, there are over 43,000 homes within 1.5m of the present average spring high tide and over 8,000 within 50cm.

scholarly journals Wetland management: preparing for climate and coastal change using adaptation pathways

2020 ◽  
Vol 202 ◽  
pp. 01004
Author(s):  
Peter Gell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coastal Wetland ◽  
Wetland Management ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Coastal Development ◽  
Freshwater Wetlands ◽  
Ecological Change ◽  
River Flows ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Increased Risk

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened in the world. The list of threatened species in freshwater ecosystems is greater than that in terrestrial or marine systems and freshwater vertebrates are particularly at risk. Freshwater wetlands have evolved in coastal zones protected from tidal influence by barrier dune systems. Similarly, estuaries have supported zones of low salinity diluted by flows from land, but water resource development has limited these flows and driven ecological change in estuarine systems. These historical uses of river flows, and the impacts of catchment development on water quality and yields, have combined to threaten coastal wetland ecosystems. They are now under increasing threat through climate change driven alterations to hydroclimatic conditions, as well an rising sea levels which risk inundation of low lying coastal regions, including wetlands. Coastal freshwater systems offer considerable ecosystem services to human systems and host significant biodiversity assets. These have been subjected to increased risk through catchment and coastal development, but are now acutely threatened through changed river flows and elevated sea levels that result from climate change. Managing these systems requires an adaptation pathways approach that accommodates human needs, and society’s obligations to global biodiversity.

scholarly journals City of Flux: Liberating the Concrete Terrain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Tara-Lee Carden
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Central City ◽  
Central Business District ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Coastal Cities ◽  
The World ◽  
Imminent Threat

<p>In recent decades the world has increasingly become aware of our role in the continual degradation of our planet’s natural environment. One of the most influential and controversial issues of the Twenty First Century is climate change and a subsequent rise in global sea-levels. The implications of the most recent scientific predictions will play out over the following century and beyond, significantly affecting millions of people and thousands of coastal cities around the world. Accelerated sea-level rise globally will demand urban, landscape and architectural solutions for low-lying regions to respond over the coming decades to the extensive changes that will occur.  New Zealand has a vast coastline and therefore will be particularly vulnerable to the predicted one-half, to two meter rise in sea-level during the following century (Evans, Milfont, and Lawrence 3). As occupants of an island nation, New Zealanders’ share a strong affinity to water. The earliest Maori settlements to the most recent developments in New Zealand have occurred predominantly in coastal regions, taking advantage of both land and marine resources. In order to envision a vital future for New Zealand’s coastal cities, the temporality of the relationship between these urban centres and the sea forces us to confront the transitory quality of our place within it. Simultaneously, the design proposal presented in this thesis recognises that Wellington has historically reclaimed large areas of land to form the majority of the central city seen today, and that in order to flourish in the coming century of climate change will require urban design more responsive than we know today.  The imminent threat of the encroaching ocean within the high value precinct of Wellington’s central business district provides an opportunity to engage with the dynamic transition from land based activities to those functions that engage with incremental flooding. Using a critical transect of Wellington’s central city this thesis proposes a system of intervention to modify a section of the existing urban fabric to accommodate, prepare and adapt for flooding. The aim of this design investigation will be to place the programme as a hinge between land and sea.</p>

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