Climate-safe ground for papakāinga and coastal communities
In collaboration with Resilience to Nature’s Challenges, we bring you this online kōrero with Marama Pohatu (Muriwhenua Inc.), Akuhata Bailey-Winiata (Waikato University) and Tom Logan (University of Canterbury).
Most of Aotearoa’s marae and papakāinga are built along the coast or by flood-prone rivers. Climate change – like other historical upheaval – threatens to separate some of us from our papakāinga. But the concept of “managed retreat” – where whānau are supposed to leave hazardous areas and “start again” on safer ground – doesn’t sit well with people whose relationships stretch backwards and forwards over centuries.
These three speakers, including hapū-based researcher Marama Pohatu, are bringing many different kinds of knowledge to the complex question of where and how to live when our homes and marae are at risk from the rising sea.
Bringing together mapping tools, planning tools and the tikanga and mātauranga of kui koro mā, we can learn more about climate impacts and future decisions than by relying on one knowledge system alone. These researchers also celebrate the vital role of ahikā, and communities in general, in designing and implementing appropriate climate decisions that uphold mana motuhake.
“It’s gathering the voice first, because that’s the most important for the community and unpacking where might it be located in relation to work places, in relation to main highways, accessing amenities, necessities for life.”
Marama Pohatu
This critical conversation, part of our He Kawa o te Ora webinar series, will be co-hosted by Naomi Simmonds and Kate Turner. A recording of this webinar will be available on our YouTube channel soon after. Please subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date.
This submission is based on the Deep South Challenge: Changing with our Climate experience of funding and delivering expert climate modelling and adaptation research and science. It has been compiled by the Challenge Leadership Team and Engagement Team.
In general, our submission follows the structure of the NAP itself, with a few key differences. Rather than honing in on a single focus area, we respond to each of the three NAP focus areas, including each outcome area. However, as a matter of priority, we also respond to key documents and issues the NAP does not cover sufficiently. These are: Te Tiriti o Waitangi; the Rauora Framework; and the criticality of consultation and engagement. We also respond to the Research Strategy much earlier in our submission than where it appears in the NAP. We believe the Research Strategy is a vital piece of the adaptation puzzle, and deserves far more visibility. We include, separately, reflections that relate specifically to Vision Mātauranga – reflections gathered through research and engagement. In most parts of our submission, we reference relevant Deep South Challenge research. In summary, the entirety of this submission is based on both our research and our engagement experience of the past eight years.
Climate change is no longer a phase we are entering but one we are firmly within. There is compelling evidence of changing climate conditions. Every day there is news of another deluge or stop bank breach. Subtler indications – like the early Pōhutukawa bloom – demonstrate our transition from a more predictable past to a more uncertain future. The pace of securing a united universal response to climate change has been widely criticised with calls to action now adopting a much more urgent tone. Aotearoa is at a crucial point in time where we as a small island nation must decide how bold, how urgent and how transformative we are going to be to address our changing climate today and how to plan and adapt for a more resilient future.
To this end, The Deep South Challenge amplifies the messages clearly stated in the Rauora Framework, 2021, which we have read alongside the Government’s first draft National Adaptation Plan (NAP). This is a significant step in preparing Aotearoa for ongoing climate change and The Deep South Challenge (DSC) welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission on the draft NAP.
We recognise the significant value in having a national adaptation plan that acknowledges and supports the rich and extensive knowledges held within our communities – including tangata whenua, the research community and industry. To create meaningful, relevant and enduring solutions to the climate crisis, the NAP can take a multi-layered approach, acknowledging the impacts of climate change across our social, cultural, environmental and economic fabric, while balancing the need for efficiency and immediacy in the Government’s response.
This submission canvasses the various chapters of the NAP and responds with key messages in relation to each chapter. Under each outcome area, we have also included a Vision Mātauranga section which specifically highlights the unique submission points regarding Māori. In particular, we were looking for evidence that the NAP has drawn from or is underpinned by The Rauora Framework.
Key Submission Points
Our key submission points, below, are elaborated on in this submission document:
Embedding Te Tiriti as an outcome area would strengthen the overarching framework of the NAP. Rangatiratanga and Kāwanatanga spheres are not evident in the NAP, and the proposed Māori foundation is a “supporting action” towards an objective rather than an objective in its own right. This falls well short of genuine partnership. Along with a reworking of the Vision, Purpose and Goals to reflect the Crown’s Te Tiriti obligations and a stronger commitment to equity – this would provide a strong foundation for the NAP and a consistent reference for how partnership opportunities are framed through the various outcome areas.
The NAP should show clearly how it has “drawn on” the Rauora Framework. There is a lack of consistency in the language between the two documents. The authority of the Rauora in relation to the NAP must be clarified and strengthened to avoid it being relegated beneath the NAP. As it stands, the relationship between the Rauora and the NAP is vague and lacking substance. The Rauora is a powerful document but under-utilised by the NAP. Failure to genuinely incorporate the recommendations of the Rauora risks the appearance that its commissioning was merely a ‘tick box’ consultation exercise.
The Research Strategy should be more foundational in the NAP. The Strategy itself requires more safeguards for research that is outside the boundary of “traditional” biophysical science. In the research strategy section of this submission we have included a number of research actions that we believe should inform the NAP, these actions include development of funding, identification of priorities to close climate adaptation knowledge gaps and investment in research that is Māori-led, with a focus on mātauranga and tikanga, community relevant and engaged research and research that also considers the socio-political and economic impacts and opportunities in climate change.
The provision of and access to climate change data for communities must be prioritised. Alongside this, the need for targeted and appropriate engagement to share information with communities is important to create meaningful change.
The system-wide actions should be integrated into the front-end of the framework as they respond to the three key focus areas of the NAP. This would give the system-wide actions relevance across all outcome areas.
There should be greater alignment of the actions against the objectives (perhaps via visual representation). The current layout makes it difficult to connect the actions with the relevant objective(s). Adding context as to how each action works to achieve the relevant objective would also be helpful.
The NAP should make it clear how adaptation will be embedded and integrated across policy areas in practice. In particular, adaptation-relevant policy and legislation must be developed as a suite, rather than in silos.
Creating clear adaptation goals that are shared across key areas is important for clarity and shared understanding.
The NAP must provide much clearer guidance to He Pou a Rangi – the Climate Change Commission on how to measure Government’s performance against and implementation of the NAP. He Pou a Rangi – the Climate Change Commission must also have the ability to carry out such monitoring.
A broader range of primary sector businesses should be supported in the NAP to consider effective adaptation
A panel discussion on the draft national adaptation plan
What does climate adaptation look and feel like for Aotearoa? Preparing to adapt in the face of our changing climate is complex and urgent work that will impact all of us and our communities. We should all have a say about how we adapt, who foots the bill, and who makes the decisions.
The Government has released its first draft of a national adaptation plan (NAP) to set the direction of climate change adaptation and how to manage the uncertainty that comes with it. The draft NAP is currently open for consultation, with submissions closing on the third of June. This plan will become a touchstone policy document for communities across Aotearoa.
Te Kōmata o te Tonga would like to invite you to a webinar critically considering the national adaptation plan, what it is (and what it isn’t) and what it means for all of us.
Recent weather events in Tairawhiti are at the forefront of Aotearoa New Zealand’s first emissions reduction plan released yesterday. The opening lines of the plan’s foreword by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for the Climate James Shaw acknowledge the months leading up to the publication of the plan were marked by floods in Tairawhiti and drought elsewhere.
Logging jobs in Tairāwhiti are at risk as more farms and log production plantations convert to permanent forests.
Photo credit: Trust Tairāwhiti
Actions committed to in the plan are being welcomed by local researchers focused on land use, economic impacts, and employment options for Tairawhiti.
Rangitukia based climate change researcher Manu Papuni-Iles is encouraged by the list of actions to support nature-based solutions. “Our region is vulnerable to climate change both in terms of environmental and economic impacts” says Mr Papuni-Iles.
Mr Papuni-Iles says it is a big win for the Raukumara and Te Urewera forests from commitments in the plan to maintain and increase carbon stocks in pre-1990 forests. At least 20 million tonnes of carbon are stored in the Raukumara Forest Park that DOC has acknowledged is on the verge of collapse due to introduced pests.
“Official commitments in the plan to protect carbon stored in this ecosystem will help protect what remains of the unique biodiversity of the region” says Mr Papuni-Iles.
The Government’s commitment to look at opportunities to incentivise and encourage those management activities, including ‘mechanisms to enable the recognition of additional carbon storage for pre-1990 forests’, potentially means significant private investment from the voluntary carbon and biodiversity offsetting markets could help subsidise public conservation efforts in the Raukumara.
“It is great to see the list of actions include incentives for more native afforestation, increasing pest control, and providing protection from flooding and rising sea levels” he says. Mr Papuni-Iles is particularly interested in the commitments in Chapter 2 of the plan that describes how Māori will be involved in planning and action to reduce emissions at both the local and national levels.
Project lead Hunaara Waerehu is an economics student and welcomes the focus in Chapter 3 on an equitable transition through the provision of new jobs in low-emissions industries, support for regions and communities to plan for the transition and the Governmentpartnering with groups including BusinessNZ and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions to address challenges and opportunities to achieve an equitable transition.
“It is good to see a commitment to reforming the education and training system to support for people to develop the skills needed for a low-emissions economy through retraining, skill-enhancement opportunities and income assistance to support workers and households” says Mr Waerehu. “If we see more permanent forest replacing farming and logging operations, Tairawhiti will need to be at the front of the line for planning and participating in establishing new industries and associated retraining opportunities.”
Renee Raroa from Toha, a venture designed to attract new investment to support biodiversity, is pleased that the plan aims to address climate change and biodiversity loss together.
“It’s good news that the plan includes the development of better incentives for restoring native ecosystems, including efforts to use private and public money to support both climate and biodiversity outcomes.”
Chapter 14 of the plan focuses on Forestry, with an emphasis on increasing the restoration of indigenous forests and protecting carbon in pre-1990 forests. Initiatives within this chapter include actions to reduce the cost of native forest establishment and protection, and support for native afforestation and restoration through the Carbon Neutral Government Programme. By 2025, emissions that cannot be reduced under the
Carbon Neutral Government Programme must be offset. The work programme will investigate how offsetting those emissions could promote biodiversity and wider environmental outcomes.
Updating carbon sequestration yield tables for indigenous species with more recent science is also included in the Forestry chapter. The updated tables will better recognise and reward carbon stored by native forests, to encourage native afforestation with a focus on longer term carbon storage, more accurate recording of sequestration rates, and good forest management practices.
The draft national adaptation plan (NAP) is full of cross-references to other plans and legislation. It can be hard to keep up with, so we have collated a reference list to help navigate this confusing landscape.
NZ SeaRise released new sea-level rise projections in early May 2022. These will be eventually incorporated into an updated Coastal Hazards Plan.
Proposed changes to Emissions Trading Scheme. Consultation closed 22 April 2022. Amendments will be made by September 2022 and come into force in January 2022.
The suite of RMA legislation:
Managed retreat legislation will be covered by the proposed Climate Adaptation Act (CAA) which is due to be introduced to the House by the end of 2023. A first lot of consultation on this has been wrapped into the NAP. Some information is available in this consultation document.
The proposed Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA), is the main replacement for the RMA, to protect and restore the environment while better enabling development. Second reading of the Bill due in 2022.
The proposed Strategic Planning Act (SPA) provides a strategic and long-term approach to how we plan for using land and the coastal marine area. It is meant to be developed alongside the NBA but little information is available publicly.
Upcoming:
He Waka Eke Noa. “Working together with farmers and growers on practical solutions to reduce Aotearoa’s emissions and build resilience to climate change.” Pricing system recommendations will be presented to Ministers by the end of May 2022.
Fisheries Amendment Bill. Submissions due 17 June 2022. Referenced in NAP, “The Bill will allow for more agile and streamlined decision making in response to changes in fish stock abundance, due to the effects of climate change, by enabling development of the pre-set decisions rules.” Expected to be passed 2024.
National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity. “Decisions on the release of an exposure draft of the NPSIB will now be made in the first half of 2022“. Page 45 of the NAP states “Implement the proposed National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity.”
Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill – This bill restructures the DHB and will establish the Māori Health Authority. It is scheduled to pass its final reading soon. The NAP makes many references to health including “Continue with the reform of the health and disability system.”
Other legislation and work that may be relevant:
Three Waters Reform Programme. Referenced in NAP “Reform institutional arrangements for water services” p 28. Bill to be introduced to House mid-2022. Entities created by 2024.
The start of 2022 has seen a few changes in the Deep South Challenge engagement team. Here we say goodbye to those who have moved on, and introduce you to some new(ish) faces.
Angela Halliday, current Partnerships Director, and Waverley Jones, previous Partnerships Director.
Change in the Partnerships Director role
Waverley Jones, Partnerships Director, has resigned from the Challenge in order to follow opportunities with and for her family in Lake Taupō. Luckily for us, Angela Halliday has returned from parental leave and, along with Phil, is already picking up the Partnership Director work. Particularly for those researchers in our Impacts and Implications programme, you will be hearing from Angela soon.
Change in the Communications role
Meriana Johnson has stepped down from her communications role to spend a full year immersed in te reo Rangatira. We are lucky to have Zoe Heine stepping into Meriana’s shoes. Zoe joins us from NZSeaRise, and is currently undertaking a PhD at Te Herenga Waka in climate storytelling. You’re likely to be hearing from Zoe on one kaupapa or another in the coming months, and can email either Zoe or me with communications questions.
Our other Engagement Team members remain! We are:
Naomi Simmonds and Nadine Hura: Our Kaitakawaenga Māori, supporting our 17 Vision Mātauranga projects (3 existing and 14 soon to be announced).
Kate Turner: Our Climate Change Knowledge Broker, supporting researchers and stakeholders to navigate the complex world of climate data.
Alexandra Keeble: I am still playing a communications role, though working slightly further behind the scenes supporting our team with planning.
Climate adaptation research in Aotearoa is set to be invigorated by an unprecedented 14 research projects led by Māori, for Māori.
Taiohi surveying kina. Photo by Joe Burke.
These highly localised projects, made up of multidisciplinary teams including tohunga and kairangahau, will investigate climate impacts and responses and shine a light on indigenous leadership through the urgent challenges of the climate crisis.
“This is a game-changer,” says Sandy Morrison, Chair of the Kāhui Māori of the Deep South Challenge. “Communities have been saying for a long time that they’re ready to lead their own climate adaptation research, but too often hapū and iwi are completely excluded from the environmental, social and political decisions that directly impact them. It’s time to remove the barriers and restore power to marae and hapū to define and develop their own appropriate solutions.”
It’s time to remove the barriers and restore power to marae and hapū to define and develop their own appropriate solutions.
Sandy Morrison, Chair of the Kāhui Māori of the Deep South Challenge
The core thread connecting these 14 projects is the knowledge that hapū and iwi have the ability, experience and research expertise to identify and activate robust adaptation solutions. Each reflects an exciting and overdue development for climate adaptation research. They are:
All projects centre mātauranga, tikanga and te reo Māori, and together showcase the inherent adaptability and relevance of ancestral knowledge to solve contemporary challenges. The urgency for this research could not could not be greater, with marae around the country facing climate impacts that threaten homes, urupā, wharenui, infrastructure and livelihoods. Tairāwhiti is just the latest in an ever-growing number of communities feeling the force of extreme weather, flooding, slips and tide-on-storm events. Mahinga kai are collapsing from marine changes and overfishing, while industry encroaches on previously undeveloped land. Decisions cannot be delayed any longer, and for Māori communities, those decisions are often complicated by competing political and legislative pressures imposed by local and central government.
These research projects, lasting between one and two years, recognise that cultural and spiritual health is inextricably linked to the health of the taiao. Teams will investigate multiple interrelated kaupapa, including (to name only a few), takutai moana, tohu taiao, well being, food sovereignty, indigenous capability and tikanga Māori decision making. The questions driving each project provide rich insight for other hāpori. For example, How does resilience to colonisation also build climate resilience? What mātauranga can support marae or even hāpori relocation? How can hākari be used to identify climate impacts and foster kaitiakitanga? How can wānanga be used to build climate capability, including the capability to engage with and develop local and national climate policy?
From the IPCC to New Zealand’s own climate adaptation instruments, there is a recognition that indigenous knowledge, and the voices of indigenous communities, are crucial. Yet these same organisations and instruments often lack a strategy for – or knowledge about – how to include, let alone centre, indigenous research.
Morrison adds, “While funding 14 kaupapa Māori climate research projects is unprecedented in Aotearoa, these are only a fraction of the number of proposals we received. Māori urgently need more funding to support our research aspirations and capacity. Kua tae te wā.”
Media enquiries:
Naomi Simmonds, Kaitakawaenga, Deep South Challenge
New research from the Deep South Challenge: Changing with our Climate and NIWA shows that NZ could experience very long and “very severe” marine heatwaves by the end of the century.
Marine heatwaves are already becoming a common experience for New Zealanders. In newly released research, scientists say that by 2100, the 40-odd marine heatwave days we currently see in a normal year will increase to between 80 days (low emissions, best-case scenario) and 170 days (high emissions, worst-case scenario) by the end of the century. For some regions, such as southern tip of the South Island, there is a high chance that marine heatwaves start to last more than a year.
The research also explores the intensity of future marine heatwaves, or just how warm they will be. For coastal waters, average marine heatwave intensities will increase by 20% (best case) to 100% (double, worst case) by the end of the century. For the North Island, this means an average marine heatwave could be between 0.5°C to 2°C more intense than they are today.
Research lead Dr Erik Behrens (NIWA) says that the chance of marine heatwaves becoming a permanent fixture is worrying.
“The impacts of climate change are happening all around us and New Zealand isn’t immune. We’re just coming off the back of one of our most intense marine heatwaves, like what we experienced in 2017. Our work indicates that this will start to become the norm as time goes on. Marine heatwaves can have significant impacts both at sea and land. They kill off corals, disturb ecosystems, and can also pose a problem for fishing and aquaculture, as well as contributing to land heatwaves and climate extremes across the country.
“What is particularly interesting is the disparity between regions, with some coastal areas predicted to experience a much bigger intensity, frequency and duration of warming seas than others. This is important to know so we can focus our efforts in helping marine ecosystems adapt to these changing conditions,” says Dr Behrens.
The analysis draws on the New Zealand Earth System Model and its “high-resolution ocean grid”. The grid helps us understand smaller-scale ocean processes (as opposed to vast oceanic currents, for example), making more accurate regional assessments like this one possible.
Kate Turner, Climate Change Knowledge Broker (Deep South Challenge) says, “we’re excited that research like this is now possible, giving locally relevant, and even coastal, insights into climate impacts in our oceans. These projections also tell us we need to start adapting to our changing climate now. Organisations, iwi and hapū, councils and communities up and down the country are experiencing these impacts already. We need to really focus on how we can support their adaptation planning today.”
Marine heatwave conditions: left – today, right – 2100 (NIWA, Deep South Challenge)
Tony Craig, a partner with marine consultancy Terra Moana, comments, “Both industry and recreational fishers are already noticing changes in the kinds of species that are caught and where. It’s hard to see current fisheries being resilient enough to withstand increases between 80 and 100% of median marine heave wave intensities by the end of the century.”
Marine heatwaves occur when water temperatures stay in the warmest 10% of historical observations for at least five days.
This work will be presented during a free webinar on Thursday 17 March 2022, 12-1pm. Find out more here.
In collaboration with the Sustainable Seas Challenge, we bring you this online seminar with Erik Behrens (NIWA), Tony Craig (Terra Moana) and João De Souza (Moana Project)
Anyone who’s been in the water this summer will have felt that things are heating up. Swimmers are talking about how the ocean is uncommonly warm and fishers are catching sub-tropical species further south than ever before. We’re on the tail-end of a marine heatwave, and new research tells us these are going to get longer and stronger.
Marine heatwaves are already becoming a common experience for New Zealanders. In newly released research, scientists say that by 2100, the 40-odd marine heatwave days we currently see in a normal year will increase to between 80 days (low emissions, best-case scenario) and 170 days (high emissions, worst-case scenario) by the end of the century. For some regions, such as the southern tip of the South Island, there is a high chance that marine heatwaves start to last more than a year.
The research also explores the intensity of future marine heatwaves, or just how warm they will be. For coastal waters, average marine heatwave intensities will increase by 20% (best case) to 100% (double, worst case) by the end of the century. For the North Island, this means an average marine heatwave could be between 0.5°C to 2°C more intense than they are today.
Research lead Erik Behrens (NIWA) says that the chance of marine heatwaves becoming a permanent fixture is worrying.
“Marine heatwaves kill off corals, disturb ecosystems, and can also pose a problem for fishing and aquaculture, as well as contributing to land heatwaves and climate extremes across the country.”
In this seminar, Erik will take you through his research into “Marine heatwaves and the link with climate extremes,” alongside insights on what it means for our fisheries and marine ecosystems from Tony Craig (Terra Moana) and João De Souza (Moana Project).
A recording of this seminar will be available on our YouTube channel in the days following this seminar. Please subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date.
