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The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has expressed its support for the Climate Change Adaptation Technical Working Group’s new report on climate change.
According to Coastal Hazards Joint Committee chair Peter Beaven, the final report demonstrates a commitment on the part of central government to take a lead role on this critical issue.
“As the report states, many local authorities, such as Hawkes Bay, have already taken a proactive stance and begun work, such as the Coastal Hazards study commissioned by three of our local bodies here in response to sea level rise,” Beaven said. “However, the report is far more wide-reaching than just coastal hazards in considering the impact of global warming.
“There will be impacts on biosecurity, infrastructure, insurance availability, frequency and severity of floods to name just a few,” he added.
Beaven noted that every local authority should have the impacts of global warming front and centre of its thinking.
“And it is so obvious that we can’t do this by ourselves,” he said. “It needs the active support and cooperation of both central Government and the wider community.”
While Hawke’s Bay Regional Council agrees with the report that adaptation and mitigation are the key actions needed, it claims that “much more detailed work on both of these areas is necessary.”
