Climate Change – What’s the Plan?
When we were working with our partners, stakeholders and communities on preparing concept plans to guide the future development of our District, people asked about plans for responding to climate change.
They wanted to know if existing or proposed flood protection systems (e.g. Waipā river stop banks in Ōtorohanga town) and coast inundation protection (e.g. Kāwhia and Aotea seawalls) can continue to provide adequate protection as our climate continues to change.
The short answer is we believe we’re ok in the short term, but we don’t know over the medium to long term.
The science is telling us to expect:
An increase in the frequency and intensity of storm events. That’s why in March 2024 the Council agreed to work on developing a climate change response plan. That plan will have two key areas of focus:
- What we (Council) can do to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions – referred to as mitigation. We have an action plan for this.
- a) What we need to do to make sure our assets and infrastructure continue to be resilient in the face of climate change – referred to as adaptation
b) What our communities need to do to adapt to climate change (i.e. ensuring resilient communities).
We’ve decided not to include reducing wider community (household, business, farming, etc) greenhouse gas emissions in the response plan. That’s because there are initiatives already underway to support that work and we don’t have the resources anyway. What we are doing is tracking greenhouse gas emissions across the district and the latest inventory report is available.
To help the Ōtorohanga District prepare for and adapt to climate change we need to:
- Understand the Understanding the likely changes and impacts climate risk will have on the region (the risk assessment).
- Work with local communities to consider how we can adapt over the upcoming decades (the adaptation plans).
To develop the best climate change response (adaptation) plan for our district we will need input from all areas of our community, especially mana whenua who have hundreds of years of local experience we can all benefit from.
We will be working closely with the Waikato Regional Council and other agencies to ensure we all have the most up-to-date information on which to make important decisions.
What we have done:
- Through the concept plans and 2024-34 Long Term Plan (LTP) processes we started raising awareness about climate change.
- We’ve signalled in our adopted LTP (June 2024) that responding to climate change is a key area of focus for us and allocated resourcing to support the planning needed.
What we are doing now:
- Working with other councils in the region on a joint approach to having the best information available for everyone - to help understand the expected impacts of climate change, where those impacts are likely to be and the risks to people and assets/infrastructure.
- Working out our (Council’s) current greenhouse gas emissions and how best to reduce them.
- Taking a precautionary approach by significantly increasing stormwater/culvert pipe sizes as they become due to replacement.
- Reviewing all the National guidelines for climate change risk, mitigation and adaptation to help ensure both Council and Ōtorohanga are aligned with national policies and guidance.
- We are collecting information about what is valued across the district. What are the communities’ priorities for adaptation?
What we are doing next:
Once we’ve got the information on expected local impacts and risks, we’ll better understand what’s happening/likely to happen. We’ll be sharing that with local partners, stakeholders and communities to:
- Identify what matters most to people (where should we focus)
- Collectively work out what we can do (develop the plan)
- Implement the plan (and how best to do this)
Later, we’ll see how the plan is working and adjust it if necessary.
There’s a lot of work to be done and we want to make sure everyone has the opportunity for input, so that will take time. We’d like to have the plan finished by the end of 2025.
Key terms explained
- Climate change refers to long-term changes to average weather patterns. This includes changes to average temperatures, seasons, wind patterns and rainfall. The impacts of climate change can threaten our communities. Whether you live inland or on the coast, nearly everyone community in the Ōtorohanga district will be exposed to some level of risk.
- Climate change hazards can include sea level rise, coastal flooding, coastal erosion, increased tsunami risk, groundwater changes, surface water flooding, river flooding, land slips, extreme wind, rising temperatures, heat waves, drought, wildfires and marine heatwaves.
- A climate change risk assessment examines the likelihood of an event occurring and the consequences of it doing so.
- The climate risk assessment looks across the whole Ōtorohanga district and into smaller areas to find out which communities are at risk and how they are impacted.
- The risk assessment uses the best available science to understand the potential challenges climate change will have on our communities, including the impacts to life, livelihoods, health and wellbeing, property, infrastructure and the natural environment.
- Planning for and adjusting to climate risk and its effects is known as adaptation. It refers to actions that reduce the harmful outcomes, while taking advantage of possible new opportunities.
- The adaptation plans may combine a variety of approaches. Adaptation plans will include triggers for moving from one adaptation option (pathway) to another. For example, with sea level rise/coastal inundation, as a first step this might mean raising the floor level of a building in a hazard area, but plan for its relocation if/when water levels get to a predetermined point.