Climate change: New Zealand wants action, but it's coming too slow to save our future
OPINION: When Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg inspired a millennials' global movement students striking for climate-change action to 'save the future' she posed a rhetorical question: Why should her generation be forced to study when "the most important facts given by the finest scientists are ignored by our politicians". Those last words of hers, "ignored by politicians", ought to be resonating with MPs, mayors and councillors everywhere who fancy getting re-elected. In New Zealand, as well as in many of the other 40 industrialised countries, climate action to curb global warming and restore some hope in the future is either very slow to get off the ground or just not happening. The planet, meanwhile, gets hotter by the year, firestorm hot. But there's a groundswell in New Zealand for a radical policy shift, a groundswell that could turn into a storm-surge of public concern. READ MORE: * The NZ council leading the way in determining who pays for climate change * Climate strike: Students will soon realise lasting change is hard to come by * Climate change: Why are we striking? * Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern met with student climate change protesters in Wellington When high school students skip class and take to the streets, the issue must be compelling and it is. Trouble is, there are many ways to address it. An underlying impediment straight off is New Zealand's environmental framework, legal and institutional. It needs overhauling if we are to responsibly tackle the causes and consequences of global warming and sea-level rise. The Resource Management Act provides woefully little direction to councils about how to tackle coastal erosion and flooding, and councils themselves 63 of 78 councils front the sea are basically doing their own thing through their own district plans on the basis of what they can afford and how far politically they can go. More than a few councils lack appropriate expertise and financial resources, and there is inconsistency across the country. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been clear about her desire for action. In 2017, she said: "We will take climate change seriously . . . I am determined that we will tackle it head-on." But coalition government is often a mishmash of policy trade-offs, and the promised climate legislation, envisaging new institutions like a Climate Change Commission, is a long time coming. Dismayingly, it is merely a first step, the curtain raiser for real nuts-and-bolts climate action that will be necessary if we are to challenge the business-as-usual ethic. Halfway through its three-year term, the government has yet to reveal a final version of the new legislation. In the UK, similar legislation went through the House of Commons 10 years ago (490 votes for, three against) to set Britain on a pathway of lowering carbon emissions. Could the same cross-party support happen here? It needs to. Britain's carbon dioxide emissions have been tracking downwards ever since, which is what five-year rolling carbon budgets and targets and proper carbon charging, not shonky Ukrainian credits can do. Without budget constraints and a heftier price on carbon emissions, New Zealand's attempt to limit carbon dioxide emissions has been tracking in the opposite direction. Whereas our rise in greenhouse gases may be excused because they amount to just a fraction of one per cent of global emissions, the fact is a quarter of global GHGs are generated by countries emitting under one per cent. Responsibility starts at home. The UK not only got a jump on us in carbon-emission reduction; it is way ahead in terms of coastal hazard preparedness. It has produced 22 coastal management plans covering all of the England and Wales coastline, with explicit policies on building new sea walls, upgrading existing ones, establishing rules and coastal setbacks for vulnerable low-lying areas, and providing for retreats. In New Zealand, only Auckland Council and the Hawkes Bay's partnership of councils have got anything comparable to the British coastal policies. Mind you, in Britain the responsibility for managing coastal hazards lies with the central government, not with the local authorities. In New Zealand, coastal hazard management is divided between territorial authorities (city and district), which are responsible as far as the high tide mark, and regional councils and a few unitary ones, which have responsibility seawards of high tide. A central government takeover of coastal management is not being actively discussed in public, but it's the kind of radical policy shift that might need to happen if New Zealand is to solidly prepare for coastal erosion and flooding from an invading sea. Low-lying coastal areas, at the mercy of a rising sea and increased storminess, are at the frontline of climate change. The coast, where most of us live, is also the frontline with the most to lose. There's drama, socially and economically think of Granity in the Buller District, Haumoana in Hawkes Bay, Christchurch's eastern suburbs and South Dunedin. Since the 1990s, New Zealand has been found wanting on climate action. Central government stands accused of doing too little too slowly and being too inclined to leave the tough decisions to the next generation. From the 1990s, we took our place at United Nations climate summits and ratified accords from Copenhagen, Kyoto and Paris. We might have thought we were doing out bit. We weren't. Twelve years a councillor (Otago Regional Council and Dunedin City Council), I decided not to stand at the last election. Instead, I wanted to write a book, The Invading Sea , about what I predict will be the standout environmental issue of the 21st century. In the grip of global warming, wildfires, droughts and weather extremes will continue to stalk humanity, but Earth's surface is 70 per cent water and the combination of a warming ocean and melting ice sheets will cause sea levels to rise through this century and probably the next. I recently became a grandfather for the first time. My grand-daughter could see in the 22nd century. Every grandparent, especially those in a decision-making role, should reflect on what they are doing or what they could do to make the future safer for their descendants. Whereas prior generations were unaware of climate change or blithely ignored the signals, future generations will be powerless to stop it unless governments like ours take action. You can't blame teenagers today for rising up and taking to the streets to influence decision-makers in government and councils. Someone's got to get radical about climate change. Neville Peat, who lives close to the coast on Otago Peninsula, is the author of some 40 books spanning themes of geography, biography, history and the natural environment. His new title, The Invading Sea Coastal Hazards and Climate Change in Aotearoa New Zealand , is the first book on the subject for a general audience. In the 2018 New Year Honours, he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to conservation. www.nevillepeatsnewzealand.com * Comments on this article have been closed.