scholarly journals A rising tide of adaptation action: Comparing two coastal regions of Aotearoa-New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Schneider ◽  
Judith Lawrence ◽  
B Glavovic ◽  
E Ryan ◽  
P Blackett
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Local Risk ◽  
Adaptation Action

Diverse and contested local interests and the complexity of climate change make adaptation to climate change risks at the coast challenging. Even in similar settings, adaptation experiences and prospects can differ markedly. Why? This paper provides empirical evidence of comparative adaptation experiences in two regions of Aotearoa-New Zealand - the Coromandel Peninsula and the Hawke's Bay coast. We critically examine how local barriers and enablers influence the trajectory of adaptation in two regions that face similar risks, have essentially the same institutional architecture, and yet have had very different adaptation experiences. We investigate the situational differences and similarities, and their implications for adaptation in each region. We found that the evolution of adaptation is shaped by the perceptions of the actors, especially local authority leaders, and opportunities that arise at a context-specific point in time. Such perceptions and opportunities can amount to barriers in one location and enablers in another. Growing concern about coastal hazard risk, improving levels of trust and legitimacy, community engagement, and collaborative governance were key to innovative long-term adaptation planning in the Hawke's Bay but their absence has led to short-term business as usual practices in the Coromandel. Yet even in the latter case, change is underway and longer-term adaptation planning is commencing. We conclude that there is a ‘rising tide’ of adaptation action in the face of escalating climate risk – with long-term planning and local action triggered by cumulative hazard experience and / or extreme events that raise public concern and make climate change salient to local community members and leaders. Both local and regional interests and concerns shape local response appetites. Proactive, local authority-led engagement and long-term strategic planning are foundational for mobilizing effective adaptation responses. Enabling national policy, guidance and institutional provisions are key to prompting and sustaining such efforts, and to facilitating broad consistency in locally appropriate responses. Notwithstanding efforts to foster locally appropriate but nationally aligned adaptation responses, our research shows that coastal communities and their local authorities follow pathways consistent with local risk appetites, understanding about climate change, and the political will and capacity of local government to mobilize key governance actors around long-term strategic planning.

scholarly journals A rising tide of adaptation action: Comparing two coastal regions of Aotearoa-New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Schneider ◽  
Judith Lawrence ◽  
B Glavovic ◽  
E Ryan ◽  
P Blackett
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Local Risk ◽  
Adaptation Action

Diverse and contested local interests and the complexity of climate change make adaptation to climate change risks at the coast challenging. Even in similar settings, adaptation experiences and prospects can differ markedly. Why? This paper provides empirical evidence of comparative adaptation experiences in two regions of Aotearoa-New Zealand - the Coromandel Peninsula and the Hawke's Bay coast. We critically examine how local barriers and enablers influence the trajectory of adaptation in two regions that face similar risks, have essentially the same institutional architecture, and yet have had very different adaptation experiences. We investigate the situational differences and similarities, and their implications for adaptation in each region. We found that the evolution of adaptation is shaped by the perceptions of the actors, especially local authority leaders, and opportunities that arise at a context-specific point in time. Such perceptions and opportunities can amount to barriers in one location and enablers in another. Growing concern about coastal hazard risk, improving levels of trust and legitimacy, community engagement, and collaborative governance were key to innovative long-term adaptation planning in the Hawke's Bay but their absence has led to short-term business as usual practices in the Coromandel. Yet even in the latter case, change is underway and longer-term adaptation planning is commencing. We conclude that there is a ‘rising tide’ of adaptation action in the face of escalating climate risk – with long-term planning and local action triggered by cumulative hazard experience and / or extreme events that raise public concern and make climate change salient to local community members and leaders. Both local and regional interests and concerns shape local response appetites. Proactive, local authority-led engagement and long-term strategic planning are foundational for mobilizing effective adaptation responses. Enabling national policy, guidance and institutional provisions are key to prompting and sustaining such efforts, and to facilitating broad consistency in locally appropriate responses. Notwithstanding efforts to foster locally appropriate but nationally aligned adaptation responses, our research shows that coastal communities and their local authorities follow pathways consistent with local risk appetites, understanding about climate change, and the political will and capacity of local government to mobilize key governance actors around long-term strategic planning.

scholarly journals Zero Carbon Building Practices in Aotearoa New Zealand

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4455
Author(s):  
Thao Thi Phuong Bui ◽  
Suzanne Wilkinson ◽  
Niluka Domingo ◽  
Casimir MacGregor
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Building Projects ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Zero Carbon

In the light of climate change, the drive for zero carbon buildings is known as one response to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within New Zealand, research on climate change mitigation and environmental impacts of buildings has received renewed attention. However, there has been no detailed investigation of zero carbon building practices. This paper undertakes an exploratory study through the use of semi-structured interviews with government representatives and construction industry experts to examine how the New Zealand construction industry plans and implements zero carbon buildings. The results show that New Zealand’s construction industry is in the early stage of transiting to a net-zero carbon built environment. Key actions to date are focused on devising a way for the industry to develop and deliver zero carbon building projects. Central and local governments play a leading role in driving zero carbon initiatives. Leading construction firms intend to maximise the carbon reduction in building projects by developing a roadmap to achieve the carbon target by 2050 and rethinking the way of designing and constructing buildings. The research results provide an insight into the initial practices and policy implications for the uptake of zero carbon buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand.

scholarly journals Food for People in Place: Reimagining Resilient Food Systems for Economic Recovery

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9369
Author(s):  
Kelly Dombroski ◽  
Gradon Diprose ◽  
Emma Sharp ◽  
Rebekah Graham ◽  
Louise Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Essential Services

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated response have brought food security into sharp focus for many New Zealanders. The requirement to “shelter in place” for eight weeks nationwide, with only “essential services” operating, affected all parts of the New Zealand food system. The nationwide full lockdown highlighted existing inequities and created new challenges to food access, availability, affordability, distribution, transportation, and waste management. While Aotearoa New Zealand is a food producer, there remains uncertainty surrounding the future of local food systems, particularly as the long-term effects of the pandemic emerge. In this article we draw on interviews with food rescue groups, urban farms, community organisations, supermarket management, and local and central government staff to highlight the diverse, rapid, community-based responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings reveal shifts at both the local scale, where existing relationships and short supply chains have been leveraged quickly, and national scale, where funding has been mobilised towards a different food strategy. We use these findings to re-imagine where and how responsibility might be taken up differently to enhance resilience and care in diverse food systems in New Zealand.

scholarly journals A rising tide of adaptation action: Comparing two coastal regions of Aotearoa-New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 100244
Author(s):  
Paul Schneider ◽  
Judy Lawrence ◽  
Bruce Glavovic ◽  
Emma Ryan ◽  
Paula Blackett
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Coastal Regions ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Adaptation Action

scholarly journals Decision-making through the grapevine: Winegrowers' perceptions on climate change and the barriers to adaptation planning in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alyssa Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Wine Industry ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Wine Production ◽  
Climate Change Research

<p>New Zealand wine is cultivated in cool climates that produce distinctive flavours and wine-styles, which are representative of the terroir of the region. The effects of climate change can impact the quality and quantity of winegrapes, and the production of premium wine. The aim of this research was to investigate adaptation planning in the New Zealand wine industry by evaluating winegrowers’ decision-making and perceptions of climate change. Research was conducted using primary survey data from New Zealand winegrowers and semi-structured interviews with winegrowers from three case study regions of Marlborough, Central Otago, and Hawke’s Bay. The study was designed to assess how climate change is understood throughout the industry, whether adaptation plans are being developed or employed and the barriers hindering winegrowers’ implementation of adaptation strategies. The results show that winegrowers are somewhat informed about climate change with some adaptation planning occurring. However, the majority of winegrowers have no plans to adapt to climate change. The uncertainty in the climate science and the availability of information were indicated as a barrier to adaptation planning. Winegrowers convey the need for regional information with a focus on reliable forecasting and climate projections for the next few years. The New Zealand wine industry is in a positive position to undertake adaptation with the opportunity to exploit the benefits of climate change for wine production.</p>

scholarly journals Using Ecological Niche Modelling to Predict Climate Change Responses of Ten Key Fishery Species in Aotearoa New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amber Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Niche Modelling ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Business As Usual ◽  
Fishery Species

<p>The long-term sustainability and security of food sources for an increasing human population will become more challenging as climate change alters growing and harvesting conditions. Significant infrastructure changes could be required to continue to supply food from traditional sources. Fisheries remain the only major protein supply directly harvested from the wild. This likely makes it the most sensitive primary sector to climate change. Overfishing is an additional concern for harvested species. There is a need to anticipate how marine species may respond to climate change to help inform how management might best be prepared for shifting distributions and productivity levels. The most common response of mobile marine species to changes in climate is an alteration of their geographic distributions and/or range shifts. Predicting changes to a species’ range could promote timely development of more sustainable harvest strategies. Additionally, these predictions could reduce potential conflict when different management areas experience increasing or decreasing catches. Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM) is a helpful approach for predicting the response of key fishery species to climate change scenarios.  The overall aim of this research was to use the maximum entropy method, Maxent, to perform ENM on 10 commercially important fishery species, managed under the Quota management system in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Occurrence data from trawl surveys were used along with climate layers from Bio-ORACLE to estimate the species niche and then predict distributions in four different future climate scenarios, called Representative Concentration Pathway Scenarios (RCPS), in both 2050 and 2100. With little consensus over the best settings and way to apply the Maxent method, hundreds of variations were tried for each species, and the best model chosen from trial experimentation.  In general, Maxent performed well, with evaluation metrics for best models showing little omission error and good discriminatory ability. There was, however, considerable variation between the different species responses to the future climate scenarios. Consistent with other studies, species able to tolerate sub-tropical or temperate conditions tended to expand southward, while subantarctic species generally contracted within their preferred environment. The increasing emissions or ‘business as usual’ climate change scenario consistently presented the most extreme difference from modern predictions. Northern regions of prediction, where sub-tropical or temperate species increased in probability of presence, were often highly uncertain due to novel conditions in future environments. Southern regions were usually less uncertain. Surface temperature consistently influenced base models more so than any other covariates considered, with the exception of bathymetry.  Some predictions showed common areas of relative stability, such as hoki and ling on the southern Chatham Rise, potentially indicating future refugia. The preservation of habitats in the putative refugia may be important for long-term fisheries resilience. Furthermore, most species that showed large predicted declines are currently heavily harvested and managed. Overfishing could compound the effects of climate change and put these fisheries at serious risk of collapse. Identification of potential refugial areas could aid strategy adjustments to fishing practice to help preserve stock viability. Additionally, when some species shift, there are areas where new fisheries may emerge.  This study offers a perspective of what future distributions could be like under different climate scenarios. The ENM predicts that the ‘business as usual’ scenario, where ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions continue to rise throughout the century, will have a negative impact on multiple aspects of distribution. However, in a reduced emissions scenario, less extreme range shifts are predicted. This study has provided a predictive approach to how fisheries in Aotearoa might change. The next step is to determine whether there is any evidence for the beginning of these changes and to consider how fisheries might best adapt.</p>

scholarly journals Climate Change Adaptation in the Environment Court: Revisiting the 2010 Holt Case

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 609
Author(s):  
CJ Iorns Magallanes ◽  
MJ Dicken
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Coastal Area ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Court Case ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand

Common law precedents for some resource consent approvals in Aotearoa New Zealand are out of date due to the rapid increase in the science and understanding of the effects of climate change. This article considers one 2010 Environment Court case on a resource consent for building in the coastal area. It examines how the case would be decided if it arose today, with the benefit of the relevant law, policies and guidance now available to decision-makers. It suggests that the option taken by the Court in 2010, whereby the owners assumed the relevant inundation risks, would not be so available to a court today. This case is thus no longer good law.

scholarly journals Collaborative Governance and Unemployment in New Zealand: Two Case Studies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greta Gordon
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Visionary Leadership ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Community Partners ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Informal Accountability

<p><b>Long-term unemployment is a significant problem for Governments and communities. It demands innovative and agile policy responses, including those that involve community partners. However, research has shown that for the New Zealand Government to achieve collaboration, deep change in institutional arrangements is required. This thesis investigates collaborative governance as an alternative paradigm, drawing on the Community Employment Group and Mayors Taskforce for Jobs initiatives as case studies. It explores the leadership styles and behaviours, participatory processes and accountability mechanisms that enabled ongoing and iterative community solving to address long-term unemployment. </b></p><p>Analysis of the case studies found that: the leaders wrote their own rulebooks, and as such, accountability and participatory mechanisms were inextricably intertwined with the personality, skills, competencies and preferences of the leader; the transparency of accountability arrangements were critical to the survival of the initiatives, and the informal mechanisms were at least as important as formal mechanisms; and that participation can be a much looser arrangement than that suggested in the collaborative governance literature. These cases showed that there is little room for complacency in collaborative governance. Tenacious and visionary leadership, formal and informal accountability mechanisms that give legitimacy to the initiative and frequent, genuine and open communication by all parties combine as key factors to sustain ongoing and iterative problem solving to address long-term unemployment. </p>

scholarly journals Collaborative Governance and Unemployment in New Zealand: Two Case Studies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greta Gordon
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Visionary Leadership ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Informal Accountability

<b>Long-term unemployment is a significant problem for Governments and communities. It demands innovative and agile policy responses, including those that involve community partners. However, research has shown that for the New Zealand Government to achieve collaboration, deep change in institutional arrangements is required. This thesis investigates collaborative governance as an alternative paradigm, drawing on the Community Employment Group and Mayors Taskforce for Jobs initiatives as case studies. It explores the leadership styles and behaviours, participatory processes and accountability mechanisms that enabled ongoing and iterative problem solving with communities, to address long-term unemployment.</b><br>Analysis of the case studies found that: the leaders wrote their own rulebooks, and as such, accountability and participatory mechanisms were inextricably intertwined with the personality, skills, competencies and preferences of the leader; the transparency of accountability arrangements were critical to the survival of the initiatives, and the informal mechanisms were at least as important as formal mechanisms; and that participation can be a much looser arrangement than that suggested in the collaborative governance literature. These cases showed that there is little room for complacency in collaborative governance. Tenacious and visionary leadership, formal and informal accountability mechanisms that give legitimacy to the initiative and frequent, genuine and open communication by all parties combine as key factors to sustain ongoing and iterative problem solving to address long-term unemployment.

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