The Government has released a proposal to protect "lives, incomes, homes, businesses and infrastructure" and to help adapt to the impacts of climate change, as areas around New Zealand have battled devastating droughts, fires, storms and flooding.
The draft, which is now open for feedback, sets out a six-year plan to respond to climate-related risks highlighted in 2020.
In just the last few months Tairāwhiti was hit by the remnants of ex-tropical Cyclone Fili, which saw homes without power and 'highly diluted' sewage pumped into the Turanganui River as the wastewater system struggled to cope. Southland farmers faced drought and a range of flow on effects, while juggling staff shortages due to Covid, and Westport went into a state of emergency after flooding and slips.
Climate Change Minister James Shaw said the proposed plan was released to help communities respond to "unavoidable impacts of climate change".
"Aotearoa will soon have a plan to bring down our emissions and help prevent the worst effects of climate change, but we must also support communities already being hit by more extreme and more frequent weather events."
The plan looks at managed retreat, which tries to "reduce or eliminate exposure to intolerable risk" and includes "relocating assets, activities and sites of cultural significance (to Māori and non-Māori) away from at-risk areas within a planned period of time"," the plan states.
"The effects of climate change mean the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events is only going to increase. We are already experiencing flooding and coastal erosion that threaten our essential infrastructure, valuable ecosystems and the safety of whole communities," the document states.
"Currently there are no dedicated tools or processes to guide how individual households or communities might permanently shift away from areas of intolerable risk. While there have been some instances where people have been supported to retreat, these have often come with significant costs."
The document states that the impacts of natural hazards and climate change on Māori were expected to be disproportionate, including coastal Māori communities vulnerable to climate change impacts such as "sea level rise, high tides, and widespread coastal inundation as well as natural hazards including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, landslides, storms and drought".
"These changes will result in the erosion or loss of coastal infrastructure and the loss of inter-tidal food gathering areas and sacred places (eg. urupā and marae situated close to the coast). There is the need to seek perspectives from Māori to understand more about how managed retreat will impact many of the Māori businesses and communities."
The draft plan also looks at how to spread out the costs between owners, insurers, banks and local and central government, while the Government was also looking at separate laws to plan and implement managed retreats.
It said that managed retreat raises "unprecedented governance issues and complex policy and funding challenges... these cannot be adequately addressed as part of other legislation".
The issues of insurance and what it could mean for areas at risk of adverse weather events was being looked at - with "sea level rise and increasing extreme weather due to climate change likely to affect the ability to insure assets".
It could see higher premiums, the possibility of higher excesses or lower cover limits, "and ultimately loss of access to insurance", the document said, and asked for feedback on how insurance could interact with a managed retreat policy.
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