Climate Change and Local Government in New Zealand

Laura McKim, Strategic Planning, Greater Wellington Regional CouncilNigel Taptiklis, Senior Policy Advisor, Wellington City Council 1

Climate change and local government - today’s session

• Background – what does local government do?

• Legislative context – laws that guide us

• NZ case studies – how it plays out in practice

• Policy responses

• Where to next? – accelerating a societal response- broader resilience context

• Wrap up

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Councils have multiple roles…

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Regional Councils

• Manage resources – sustainable management of freshwater, air, soil, coastal waters, discharges to land

- Regional Policy Statement, Regional Plans, consents

• River control, flood protection and soil conservation

• Regional land transport planning and contracting public transport services

• Harbour navigation and safety, oil spills and other marine pollution

• 24-hr environmental incident response5

Territorial Authorities (City & District Councils)• District Plans –rules governing the use of land

• Controlling the effects of land use, noise, and the effects of activities on the surface of lakes and rivers

• Local infrastructure, including water, sewerage, stormwater, roads, cycle ways

• Environmental safety and health, building control, public health inspections and other environmental health matters

• Bylaws- special laws that apply in that district only e.g. liquor-free zones, air quality control

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• Increased frequency and intensity of flood damage to settlements and infrastructure• Increasing risks to coastal infrastructure

and low-lying ecosystems from continuing sea level rise

-Storm surge, erosion and inundation

• Increased frequency of drought, placing pressure on water resources and increasing the risk of wild fire

Adaptation mandate

Resource Management Act 1991..have particular regard to the effects of climate change

Local Government Act 2002..meet the current and future needs of communities for good quality local infrastructure, local public services, and performance of regulatory functions

Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1946Protect communities from flooding and undertake physical works to mitigate erosion damage

Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002Improve and promote the sustainable management of hazards

Building Act 2004 Councils should refuse consent on land subject to one or more hazards

Health Act 1956..duty of every local authority to improve, promote, and protect public health within its district

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Mitigation mandate

Local Government Act 2002Original purpose: To enable democratic decision-making and action by, and on

behalf of, communities; and to promote the social, economic, environmental,

and cultural well-being of communities, in the present and in the future

Resource Management Act 1991

Resource consent authorities must have regard to any actual and potential effects on the environment of allowing

the activity.

Local Government Act 2002

Amended in 2012. Refocused purpose of LG – removal of reference to 4 well-beings.

‘Environmental well-being’ can no longer be used as justification for climate change

mitigation policy.

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Resource Management Amendment Act 2004

Introduced new provisions directing councils not to consider the effects on climate change of discharges into air of

greenhouse gases.

Land Transport Management Act 2003

Amended in 2013. Removed reference to sustainability from

Act’s purpose. No specific mechanisms in Government Policy Statement to reduce

transport emissions.

• Buller Coal Ltd applied to West Coast Regional Council & Buller District Council for resource consents under the RMA for an open-cast coal mine on the Denniston Plateau• Coal to be exported to China & India for use in steel manufacturing. Its use will result in the emission of greenhouse gas, CO2

• Buller Coal applied to Environment Court for declaration under RMA that in considering the consent it was not permissable to have regard to effects on climate change of discharge of GHGs from the end use of coal• West Coast Ent and Forest & Bird opposed this, and applied for a declaration that the effects on climate change were required to be taken into account• Buller Coal Ltd successful in obtaining the declaration and this was upheld in High Court and Supreme Court

West Coast Ent v Buller Coal Ltd

Effects on climate “indirect and intangible”

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Island Bay Seawall Project

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Source: Talking for a Change Involve.org.uk

Technical vs Social practice

Real and Tangible

• Severe southerly storm June 2013 – failure of 50m section of the Island Bay seawall

• Project Aims:

• Develop a long-term solution for managing storm and wave hazards in Island Bay• Explore range of options and develop recommended option

• Options: Repair, re-fortify, don’t build back (soft engineering), hybrid.

– but non-threatening on a city scale

Conflicting Values

• Traffic and transport network effects, eg. parking, scenic drive, traffic displacement

• Amenity and recreation – park and beach

• Seawall – heritage, ‘promenade’, amenity

Numbers

Festival: Status quo 52 - Alternatives 120

Public meetings• 1st meeting: clear majority for repair• 2nd meeting: clear majority for ‘re-fortify’• 3rd meeting: slight majority for hybrid option

430 Submissions, Petition signed by 140 People

Opinion divided between Repair, Re-fortify, and Hybrid. Full soft engineering discounted.

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• What is best for long term social/community resilience? • How do we build physical resilience and council/community

cohesion?

http://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/your-council/meetings/Committees/Environment-Committee/2014/12/Minutesunconfirmed.pdf

Update

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Local government policy responses

Break

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Where to next?

Accelerating the societal response to climate change

Nigel Taptiklis

Sigmoid Curve – behaviour over time

A Super Wicked Problem

• Time is running out• Those seeking to solve the problem are also causing it

• Multiple frames for understanding, and frame determines approach and ‘solution’

WANTED: NEW THINKING

Nar

rativ

eEvents, crises, change

Trends and Patterns

Structures and Feedbacks

Culture, Worldviews and Assumptions

Deep Cognition

The Iceberg

Innovation begins with powerful questions

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”

- Albert Einstein

Reframe - Opportunity Analysis

• How do we accelerate our response?• How do we shine the spotlight on ourselves?• How can we use the diversity available to us to address

root causes?

“Where can I get a good hamburger on the road?” - Ray Kroc, McDonald’s founder

What is Rapid Social Innovation?

Social Innovation is often an effort of mental creativity which involves fluency and flexibility from a wide range of disciplines. The act of social innovation in a sector is mostly connected with diverse disciplines within the society.

innovateMake changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.introduce (something new, especially a product).

Known Uncertain Unknown

New insights and meaning

PovertyTrap

RigidityTrap

Adaptive cycle adapted from Gunderson and Holling 2002. Panarchy.

The Innovators Dilemma

Multi-level Perspective adapted from Rotmans 2001. More evolution than revolution: Transition management in public policy. Foresight.

Institutions – ‘the system’

Creative Disruption

Inspiration

Change

Action

Innovation

Social Innovation through engagement, participation, and collaboration

The Smart Energy Challenge is a Wellington-wide collaboration that brings together businesses, community partners, entrepreneurs and Wellington City Council to support you to refine, connect and launch your ideas for smarter energy in Wellington. www.smartenergychallenge.org.nz

The Smart Energy Challenge

Build - self, idea, team, network, resources

- support others

Iterations

Take-off

Pre-development

Set your PURPOSE

Sigmoid Curve adapted from Rotmans 2001. More evolution than revolution: Transition management in public policy. Foresight.

Purpose

Take-home messages

•Mitigation – NZ appears to be going against international trends by restricting local government’s role in GHG emission reductions• Adaptation – local government has a key role, but without

strong mitigation action, adapting to climate change will become increasingly challenging and potentially prohibitively expensive for councils• Councils are already exposed to risks and challenges in

attempting to do adaptation planning• Better coordination of legislation could help• Catalysing social learning and innovation can help increase

engagement and navigate complexity

“Climate change is not a one-person or one-sector issue. It cannot be solved by one country or one level of government; it requires everyone to work together.”

- Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2014.

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