“We need to keep designing opportunities for iwi and hapū to see the potential of what adaptive change can look like.”—Dr Huhana Smith
In the third of the Deep South Challenge seminar series, Huhana will introduce us to her team’s two projects within the Vision Mātauranga programme of the Deep South Challenge.
In the first phase of their Deep South research, Huhana and her team worked alongside Māori land- and farm-owners, utlising the knowledge systems of whakapapa (genealogy), hīkoi (walking) and kōrero tuku iho (ancestral knowledge) to activate community understandings of climate change. The second phase of their project looks at risk assessments and transition action plans. Overall, this research producing real opportunities for hapū and iwi to consider how they might adapt their land management and community planning, in line with future sea level rise, coastal erosion, salinification and extreme weather.
Dr Huhana Smith (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Raukawa ki Te Tonga) is an artist and academic working across indigenous knowledge, contemporary art, design and science research. Head of Art at Massey University, Wellington, she advocates
for active participatory, collaborative and kaupapa Māori research projects, particularly around major environmental and climate change issues.
Come along to find out more about these projects and how they might inform or be informed by your own work. There’ll be plenty of time for questions.
Physical hubs:
Victoria University: Room AM103
NIWA Wellington: Conference Room
NIWA Auckland: Lake Room
Waikato University: Room S1.10
University of Otago: Room 229, Science III Building
University of Canterbury: Psychology 164
We encourage you to set up your own hub and bring friends and colleagues together to participate in the seminar.
In the second of the Deep South Challenge seminar series, Jonny will introduce us to climate and earth system modelling, show how the NZESM fits within the Deep South Challenge and discuss how the NZESM contributes to understanding our climate future.
“The development of the NZESM is a game changer for New Zealand science. Although there’s a long history of weather prediction and climate modelling here, it’s only with the realisation of the Deep South Challenge that true earth system modelling research can take place for the first time.” —Dr Jonny Williams on the NZ earth system model
Jonny is part of the Challenge-funded core research project, Establishing a New Zealand Earth System Modelling Capability, and is lead author of a recent paper about the NZESM published in Weather and Climate, the journal of the NZ Meteorological Society.
Come along to find out more about the NZESM and how it might be useful for your own work. There’ll be plenty of time for questions. If you missed our first seminar with Pat Langhorne, you can catch up on our YouTube channel here.
The Deep South Challenge is proud to be supporting the new Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund – the first independent journalism fund dedicated to furthering coverage of the science-related issues that impact New Zealanders.
The Deep South Challenge has provided funding to encourage journalism about the impacts and implications of climate change in New Zealand.
The fund is open to all professional journalists working for mainstream media outlets (newspapers and magazines, TV, radio and news websites) as well as freelancers who collaborate with mainstream news outlets. The fund will support science journalism projects that tackle issues in the public interest, that are too costly for mainstream media outlets to undertake alone.
The new Ministry for Primary Industries fund is available for community group projects or advisory services to quake-affected farmers in Hurunui, Kaikōura and Marlborough. The November 2016 earthquake caused significant erosion and damage to land in these areas. Farmers, growers and foresters are now faced with the challenge of deciding what to do with their land.
The Primary Industries Earthquake Recovery Fund is designed to help with decisions around land use planning – including projects and advisory services related to the impacts and opportunities associated with adapting to climate change.
Registrations are now open for the 2017 Climate Change and Business Conference in Auckland on 10-11 October.
Building on the success of previous years, this year’s event will have a stronger focus on adapting to climate change.
The conference, entitled Meeting Disruption with Disruption, is expected to draw delegates from business, central and local government, and society. Delegates will have an opportunity to hear from international experts, and New Zealand leaders in policy, science and business.For more information: http://www.climateandbusiness.com/
From September 4-6 2017, the Deep South Challenge will be holding our inaugural symposium, Understanding and Adapting to Future Climate in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The symposium will create a networking platform for stakeholders and scientists and strengthen links between researchers, enabling integration within and between the DSC programmes. There will be opportunities for in-depth and cross-disciplinary discussion, interaction and participation in a range of mini symposia.
Brief symposium outline
Day 1: Public and Stakeholder Day
This day will provide an update on the status of the Challenge for researchers, partners and Challenge stakeholders. There will be time for stakeholders and scientists to exchange ideas and a cocktail function at Dockside Restaurant & Bar, 3 Queens Wharf
Day 2:
Science talks, posters and mini symposia
Day 3:
Science talks, posters, mini symposia and a session on the future direction of the Challenge
Keynotes
Sir Mark Solomon
Sir Mark is a professional director and Māori tribal leader of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Kurī descent. He is the former Kaiwhakahaere (Chair) of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, director of Te Ohu Kaimoana (Māori Fisheries Trust), Chair of the New Zealand China Council, and a former director Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
Nathan Bindoff (University of Tasmania)
Nathan Bindoff is Professor of Physical Oceanography at the University of Tasmania and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Climate System Science. He was the Coordinating Lead Author for the oceans chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th and 5th Assessment Reports. He is also a member of the Independent Science Panel for the Deep South Challenge.
We invite you to the first installation of the online DSC seminar series.
Professor Pat Langhorne has been involved in the field of sea ice research for over 30 years and is a world expert on the topic. She has participated in more than 20 research expeditions to Antarctica and is currently the Principal Investigator on the Deep South funded core research project Targeted observation and process-informed modelling of Antarctic sea ice.
If you are interested in knowing more about this research and how it fits into the Deep South Challenge, or its relevance to your own work and interests, join us. There will be time for questions after the presentation.
The latest funding has been announced by the Deep South National Science Challenge to enable New Zealanders to adapt, manage risk, and thrive in a changing climate.
Working out which roads, buildings and railway lines across New Zealand could be affected by flooding due to climate change, is the subject of a new research project being funded by the Deep South National Science Challenge.
The Challenge, which is tasked with enabling New Zealanders to adapt, manage risk and thrive in a changing climate, has announced funding for four new projects totalling more than $1 million.
Ryan Paulik, hazards analyst at the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere (NIWA) is leading one of the projects to identify how flooding due to sea level rise or extreme weather events will affect infrastructure and buildings. Mr Paulik says flooding caused by rainfall is one of New Zealand’s most frequently damaging and disruptive natural hazards and is expected to increase under climate change scenarios.
However, there is little information available to central and local government on exactly what is at risk under different climate change scenarios. Information was urgently needed to help identify high risk areas and prioritise mitigation work.
Scientific models will be produced across New Zealand for practitioners to identify how flood risk may evolve in their area using RiskScape software developed by NIWA and GNS Science.
The Deep South Challenge is also funding other research to support its mission. In a project led by Waikato University it will look at reshaping the future of risk management in New Zealand. NIWA and Auckland University will collaborate in oceanographic research from RV Tangaroa in the Ross Sea. The final successfully- funded project will be undertaken by Massey University and will look into risk management planning for climate change impacts on Māori coastal ecosystems and economies. This will complement their previous Challenge funded research looking into adaptation strategies to address climate change impacts for coastal Maori communities.
Understanding how climate change might affect New Zealanders
Challenge director Dr Mike Williams said the new projects would expand the reach of the Challenge and provide crucial information to help New Zealand in the face of climate change.
“The new research projects that the Challenge has funded will help us understand how climate change might affect New Zealanders, for example, by knowing more about what is at risk from increased flooding and sea level rise.”
Each of the four projects will receive between $200,000 and $300,000.
Central to the Challenge is strengthening the links and interactions with the New Zealand Earth System Model. This world-class numerical model will simulate current climate and make projections of future climates with different scenarios of future global greenhouse gas emissions.
Ultimately the Deep South Challenge will help advance understanding of Southern Hemisphere influences on the global climate and give New Zealanders a greater level of certainty in the face of a changing climate.
“We are particularly looking forward to seeing these projects under way as they will help us set future priorities at a local level,” Dr Williams said.
The Deep South National Science Challenge is one of 11 Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment-funded initiatives aimed at taking a more strategic and collaborative approach to science investment.
For more information:
Dr Mike Williams – Director, Deep South National Science Challenge
Join us for this free event to hear from artist and researcher Dr Huhana Smith on adaptation strategies to address climate change impacts on coastal Māori communities.
This talk will extend on the Kei Uta collective project Whakatairangitia rere ki uta, rere ki tai (Proclaim it to the land, proclaim it to the sea) that features in our current exhibition This Time of Useful Consciousness.
It is the culmination of a Deep South Challenge Research Project, that brought together scientific and creative practices with a mātauranga Māori approach, focused on Kuku in the Horowhenua region.
One Deep South Challenge project, within the Vision Mātauranga programme, has been exploring adaptation strategies to address climate change impacts on coastal Māori communities.
Using design methodology, this project takes a serious look at the potential economic risks to climate sensitive industries. The final hui and exhibit offers a model of participation and engagement that can assist communities to understand and move forward in a changing climate. Artist and researcher, Dr Huhana Smith, who has lead this team for 18 months shows us how the path forward can be a positive one, which continues to sustain the people and make dynamic use of the land.
Credit: Jo Bailey
Adaptation strategies for coastal Māori communities
Climate change will change conditions that will affect traditional land-use and practises. This project collaborated with local iwi and hapū to address the implications of climate change on two Māori coastal farms and a whānau trust, and consider the cultural, economic and ecological issues to develop culturally-appropriate adaptive options moving forward. These practices will help Māori farming communities be more self-reliant, less vulnerable and therefore more resilient. Huhana explains, “we’ve been building the ideas of what iwi and hapū would like to see from a cultural context, and an economic context, with the designers bringing their ideas and their thoughts and processes to the projects. We’ve been able to get some good cross-cultural dialogue and collaborative work.”
Science+Design+Art – an exhibition of adaptive strategies
As an artist and former senior curator, Huhana is well acquainted with the power of visual images to engage with the audience, and recently produced a visually rich exhibition Whakatairangitia, Rere ki uta, Rere ki tai, held in Kuku in March, reporting this work back to the community. This was not a regular research report or community event. The science, the process and the potential future strategies were presented to the community, land owners and trust members in an exhibition held on the farm, by the Kuku Stream in a disused milking shed with surrounding farm buildings to provide the real-life backdrop for the effects of climate change on this community.
Masters students at Victoria University’s School of Architecture engaged in the project (supported by professional firms Studio Pacific and Isthmus Group, Wellington) as a case study that incorporated both understandings of kaupapa Māori and climate change risks. Professor Penny Allen said, “The students were asked to think carefully about how climate change was going to affect those coastal lands, and what that might look like in hundred years and to create a vision for rejuvenation within the constraints of climate change, thereby helping Māori farmers and shareholders adapt in an economically viable way.”
During the design process, many experts were invited to talk to the students and discuss things that might impact their design solutions. An integral component was spending time listening to the people and exploring the land in the Horowhenua. For Masters student Yota Kojima this was essential to the creative process. “The site is currently covered in pasture, with wetlands, streams and rivers. We were asked to look at climate change issues such as sea level rise as a catalyst for environmental restoration and more importantly, cultural restoration.” Yota focussed on Māori cultural norms for inspiration. “The place of food in Māori culture is much like other cultures such as Japanese. It’s more than just feeding the community, but also has cultural and spiritual associations.”
The design process raised many possibilities and alternatives, that could see the people moving from dairy to other types of farming such as algae farming, green lipped mussel or fish hatcheries. Land based options included sustainable cash crops, such as flax and mānuka honey from bees.
Vision Mātauranga
The hui also provided an opportunity for the six Vision Mātauranga project leaders to come together from various parts of New Zealand, learn from each other and share challenges and progress. Each leader was given time at the hui to talk about their projects from water security in the northern regions, capturing traditional weather and climate forecasting expertise in in the South Island, and the opportunities for using narratives of Māori navigation to Antarctica to shape climate change conversations.
Darren Ngaru King, the programme lead for the Vision Mātauranga Programme in the Deep South Challenge, is proud of what the programme has achieved in a short space of time. “This is the first time that there have been six concurrent science projects focussed on ways that iwi, hapū and Māori business will deal with climate change and adaptation.”
A project of hope
Huhana calls it a project of hope, that focusses on challenges as a catalyst for positive change. “All in all, this project is about how a range of specialists can come together really well with iwi and hapū and help them cope with something like climate change. It’s not just the Horowhenua and Kāpiti Coast. It will affect all of New Zealand. And you know, together, that expertise and willingness to work closely together with help forge a better understanding and accelerate the adaptations we need to put into place now.”
We all have something to learn from tikanga Māori and the paradigm of kaitiakitanga that carries a responsibility of active stewardship for future generations, whilst providing for today.
Now at The Dowse, Lower Hutt
The next iteration of Whakatairangitia, Rere ki uta, Rere ki tai is now on display at the Dowse Art Museum until 30 July 2017, as part of the exhibition
A talk given by Penny Allen and Huhana Smith will take place on Saturday 20 May 2017 at 3pm
Lindsay Poutama from Te Iwi o Ngāti Tukorehe ki te Tonga welcomes the guests to the exhibition. Standing with him are (top left) Dr Huhana Smith with the project team to celebrate the completion of the research and a successful exhibition. Photo credit: Kate Turner
