The government has produced what it says is the country's most significant report detailing the impacts of climate change on the health of Kiwis.
It also announced it wants to formulate an action plan to tackle this issue.
"Climate change is the biggest risk to human health and wellbeing in the 21st century and that's why it's so important for this government to take action," said Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter.
The new Ministry of Health commissioned report is the country's most significant look at the issue and spells out the risks for Kiwis over the next century.
The report looks at issues like:
- Respiratory problems from air pollution
- The risk of cancer caused by the sun's rays
- Increased flooding spurring infectious diseases, like dengue
- How extreme weather can change the nutritional content of food
"Next steps from this report is to gather more data and have an action plan for how we address the specific problems," said Ms Genter.
Climate change is a worry for the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation.
Chief executive Letitia O'Dwyer says: "There are one in six Kiwis, that's 700,000, with respiratory disease and we know that climate change, increase in plant production, increase in pollen production is going to affect people with asthma".
Public health physician Dr Rhys Jones says the sector is not prepared, questioning "is the health system itself ready? Are our hospitals, our health facilities actually ready for things like storms, the floods, the impacts that climate change is going to bring."
It's unclear what the action plan will look like just yet, but the government hopes it will be ready by the next election.
The government says it's too early to say if law changes will be needed.
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