Hon David Parker - 17/04/2007
- Address to the Coastal Communities Natural
Disasters conference - 9am, Tuesday 17 April,
Crowne Plaza, Auckland
Good morning. I'm pleased to be here to
talk to you about the issues facing coastal
communities and how we can work together
to make them more resilient to natural disasters
and to climate change.
This forum brings together scientists,
business and decision makers who can share
their knowledge, and their technical expertise
with each other. Good policy formulation,
emergency management planning and smart
business decisions all rely on good information.
The government values the role played by
scientists, engineers and businesses in
shaping our strategies for a sustainable
New Zealand.
Climate change and sustainability
I'd like to begin by talking a bit about
climate change and sustainability.
Climate change is real. It's happening
now, and it's being influenced by human
activity. That's what the weight of scientific
evidence now tells us, and we've heard more
about it in the past fortnight, due to the
release of the latest report from the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change.
Climate change is expected to increase
the incidence of storms, flooding and erosion
in some coastal areas. That means we have
to look long term – should coastal developments
continue to grow at the pace they are, where
they are, and if so, how can we make them
more resilient to changes that are on their
way? That is what you will be considering
over the next few days.
How we respond to climate change and prepare
for the associated impacts is central to
creating a sustainable New Zealand.
The future of our economy, society, environment,
and way of life is dependent on long-term
sustainable strategies. This is why this
government has chosen to put sustainability
at the top of its agenda.
Climate change is a sign that humans on
this planet are not living sustainably.
Our actions are escalating greenhouse gas
levels in the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting
in changes to our ecosystems. These kinds
of changes to our climate will affect many
of the things we cherish and depend on,
like our native species’ ability to flourish
or the kinds of crops we grow.
Climate change has moved well beyond being
just an environmental debate, to being an
ethical and economic issue that requires
a long-term vision, enduring policies and
responsible actions.
The recent Stern Review and the reports
this year from the IPCC leave little room
for doubt that the world must take urgent
action.
Taking no action to address climate change
will be much more expensive than the costs
of any actions we might be considering.
Taking action now is like taking out an
insurance policy for the future.
Climate change has become one of the most
compelling issues of our time. The Prime
Minister has put climate change at the heart
of New Zealand’s sustainability drive by
putting us on a path towards carbon neutrality.
Our shift to carbon neutrality is a proactive
response to a changing global landscape.
The public are demanding action on climate
change. In part, this is because the actions
we take on climate change are things we
might want to do anyway. For example, encouraging
the planting of trees on marginal land to
sequester carbon also prevents erosion and
improves water quality. Insulating our homes
keeps us healthier and warmer as well as
reducing energy use. Encouraging the uptake
of fuel efficient cars to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions saves us money at the gas
station, as well as reducing the harmful
emissions that pollute our air.
In time, being truly sustainable and carbon
neutral is likely to become as important
to us as being nuclear free.
IPCC report
As I mentioned, we now have further information
on how New Zealand will be affected by climate
change, since the release of the latest
IPCC report– a report that placed particular
emphasis on the need for the world to get
ready for the impacts of a changing climate.
The report tells us that we can already
see signs of climate change affecting New
Zealand's temperature, sea level, and alpine
ice mass.
And it identifies particular areas of vulnerability
in New Zealand: water security problems
in Northland and many eastern regions, a
loss of biodiversity in alpine areas, and
risks to coastal developments in areas such
as Northland and Bay of Plenty from sea
level rise, storms and coastal flooding.
This report also makes the point that New
Zealand is in a much better position to
adapt to the effects of climate change than
many other countries. We have the means
to make the changes necessary to reduce
our vulnerability to the impacts, or even
to take advantage of some of the changes.
Adaptation
The government already has programmes in
place for adapting and responding to climate
change and improving the way in which we
manage our environment. This includes work
such as:
The Sustainable Water Programme of Action
The Biodiversity Strategy
The Flood Risk Management Review.
The government has placed considerable
emphasis on the work of adapting to and
preparing for the inevitable effects of
climate change on our communities, economy
and infrastructure. Officials will be talking
to you in more detail tomorrow about efforts
the Ministry for the Environment has made
with climate change adaptation, the floods
review and other coastal environment issues.
As part of the adaptation work programme
the government recently established joint
programmes with local government, engineers,
and the insurance industry. These partnerships
are aimed at improving our preparedness
for climate change. They will also ensure
that climate change risk is better incorporated
into decision making and that climate change
effects are taken into account in day-to-day
operations.
Climate Change Response in the business
sector
The fact is, governments alone cannot "fix"
climate change. New Zealand organisations,
industry and business now publicly recognise
the important role they have to play in
the climate challenge. They can help to
drive behavioural changes as well as purchasing
patterns by consumers.
We're seeing more and more examples of
businesses rising to the challenge.
For example, Meridian is now a certified
carbon neutral electricity generator, and
Contact Energy is pledging to invest $2
billion dollars in renewable energy development
while deferring their planned thermal generation.
The Bank of New Zealand too, has announced
plans to be carbon neutral by 2010.
Another bank, Westpac, recently launched
the Green Home Loans initiative to help
home owners make their houses more energy
efficient and environmentally friendly.
“Sustainability” featured strongly in the
design of insurance company IAG’s new Christchurch
building, reflecting the company’s ongoing
commitment to sustainability.
And last but not least, on the subject
of coastlines under threat: Environment
Bay of Plenty is preparing for the effects
of climate change on its coastline with
the dune restoration programme called Coast
Care Bay of Plenty.
Conclusions
I applaud these actions. Such initiatives
will make the difference in preparing New
Zealand for the effects of inevitable climate
change and I encourage other sectors to
follow their example. It is only with the
efforts of everyone that the challenge of
climate change can be effectively met. We
will only create resilient communities if
we all acknowledge and respond to the need
to be prepared for the effects of climate
change.
Thank you for your invitation to speak
at this conference today. I trust you will
enjoy the next two days, and hope you will
take on the challenge of climate change
and the vision for a sustainable New Zealand.
+ More
National state of the environment reporting
programme established
Media release: 20 April 2007 - A core set
of environmental indicators have been confirmed.
They will form the basis of the Ministry
for the Environment’s national state of
the environment reporting programme.
Waste, fresh water quality and allocation,
and air quality are among some of the indicators
that will be used to tell us about New Zealand’s
environment, as well as greenhouse gas emissions,
stratospheric ozone, land cover and land
use, and indigenous biodiversity. These
indicators enable information to be compared
across New Zealand and will be used in the
future to show trends or changes in our
environment.
“The indicators establish the foundations
for an ongoing national state of the environment
programme. They help us build on current
reporting about vital aspects of our environment
such as air and water quality,” said Ministry
Chief Executive Hugh Logan.
This month’s OECD Report on New Zealand’s
environment recommends expanding the availability
of quantitative indicators and time series
data related to environmental quality. The
Ministry's state of the environment reporting
programme shows that work is already well
underway to ensure this goal is met says
Mr Logan.
The confirmed set of indicators will form
the basis of a national state of the environment
report due to be released by the Ministry
at the end of this year. The report called
Environment New Zealand 2007 will provide
information about our environment and adds
to existing topic-specific reports produced
yearly by the Ministry.
The indicators and Environment New Zealand
2007 complement regional and local state
of environment reporting by local government.
While councils have information about their
local environment, Environment New Zealand
2007 will provide a national overview.
