Rising seas flow into hard conversations on climate change response
As coastal communities face increasing climate change threats, Katy Jones looks at how local councils are responding. Seafront residents in Glenduan watched as huge waves hurled logs and boulders onto the road in front of their homes, downing power lines and washing part of the road away. Nineteen months on from tropical ex-cyclone Fehi, resource consent was being sought to strengthen the road next to the rocky beach north of Nelson, the city council said. But some residents maintained nothing had been done to help protect their homes from the sea - and the council should be building up boulders along the seafront. In Glenduan, and other coastal areas, the Nelson City Council said "hard conversations" were to be had between the council and communities about which actions to take in the face of sea level rise and predictions of more intense storms. READ MORE: * Christchurch to push ahead of national carbon emissions target by five years * Tasman District Council to appoint fulltime kaihautu * Ex-cyclone Fehi leaves lasting impression on Glenduan "The power of the sea is so much more powerful than a river in flood," NCC chief executive Pat Dougherty said. "What's that going to cost, who's going to pay, and what does it make our community look like, if it's now sitting behind great big banks, or rock walls?" If walls were the option would they have to keep being extended, to counter the effects of energy being amplified at either end. "As soon as you start building a rock wall, if it's a sandy beach in front, then the sandy beach starts to erode faster and you get end effects." Dougherty said the sandy beach at Tahunanui was one of the "jewels in Nelson's crown". "What do we do there as sea level rises? If you want to maintain that beach, then retreat is probably a more likely option." NCC group manager for environment Clare Barton said the council had been engaged with communities in Glenduan and Monaco (where scores of homes were flooded by Fehi), for well over a year. It would go back to those communities over the next few months, to discuss options ranging from interim protection to managed retreat. Barton said those were difficult conversations to have. "If you're in one of those places, you'll want to be protected. But that conversation then needs to go to; for how long?" The council was using an "adaptive pathways" approach, aimed at getting the council and community to agree on what action would be taken once certain trigger points were were reached. Those trigger points were still being worked out. In neighbouring Tasman district, where homes, roads and property along the coast were also damaged by ex-cylcone Fehi, the council released a coastal hazards map two months ago, predicting areas that would be eroded or flooded by sea rise level in half metre increments. Followed by drop-in sessions and feedback opportunities, it marked the start of conversation with the community about coastal management, Tasman District Council (TDC) said. Chief executive Janine Dowding said the council would also likely adopt "adaptive pathways", with different responses applying to different communities. Decisions on which options to take were "still a few years away", she said. Wastewater plants at Bell Island and the Motueka River mouth were among council assets particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, she said. But to what extent and by when was still being worked out. In the short term, the council was focusing on things it could control or influence now - reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions, and helping ratepayers reduce theirs. In a "climate action plan" announced last week, TDC listed targets to cut emissions from council activities, in line with direction from the Government's Zero Carbon Bill , currently before Parliament. Actions over the next two years to help do that included investigating renewable energy options for council buildings, reducing travel to meetings, cutting waste to landfill, and adding more plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to its fleet. TDC emissions levels wouldn't be known until next year, when a baseline inventory was due to complete. But an inventory already undertaken of NCC's greenhouse gas emissions, had identified a landfill which serviced both Nelson and Tasman - the York Valley Landfill - as the source of 80 per cent of NCC's emissions. Dowding said TDC was already working with NCC to find methods of reducing them. Dougherty said NCC'S landfill business unit had commissioned work to start investigating. Regarding infrastructure like roads and sewerage, NCC was reviewing its asset management plans over the next 12 months, to look at how they could "lock climate change considerations into business as usual". The council's incoming "climate change champion", due to be named in the coming week, would help with that process. He or she was also expected to come up with ideas on how to use $500,000 of climate emergency funding, to support the council's new climate forum, and help the community and council get to zero carbon.