Urban areas in New Zealand are already feeling the impacts of climate change.
Sea levels in the country have been rising at an average rate of 1.81 millimeters per year since the record began, making coastal communities and infrastructure vulnerable to floods, floods, tsunamis, storm surges, and other natural disasters.
In New Zealand, the Māori people, the people of the land, have a historically deep connection with the environment and their resources. However, many of their critical historical and cultural sites, like their Marae (a communal or sacred place) and Urupā (burial sites), are built in low-lying and coastal areas, which makes them highly exposed to coastal and climate hazards, like rising seas and severe storms.
The close relationship between the Māori’s culture, physical and spiritual well-being, and identity to the environment means that climate change threats to the environment and the resources it provides also threaten to wipe out the Māori identity and values.
The article in IPWEA discusses how the Māori’s concept of kaitiakitanga can guide climate actions in the country, particularly in preserving these cultural sites and the environment.
Kaitiakitanga means guardianship and protection. It is a way of managing the environment based on the Māori worldview. Traditionally, Māori believe there is a deep kinship between humans and the natural world. This connection is expressed through kaitiakitanga – a way of managing the environment. Today there is a growing interest in kaitiakitanga as iwi restores the Māori tribe’s environment and culture.
New Zealand’s government has introduced laws, policies, plans, and frameworks to tackle climate change and reduce emissions.
For example, the country’s Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act aims to reduce all GHG emissions, with the exemption of biogenic methane, to zero by 2050. It also provides a framework for New Zealand to develop and implement climate change policies that help meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C and allow the country to prepare and adapt to climate change.
The country also established the Climate Change Commission in December 2019 to advise the government on climate change mitigation and adaptation plans, meeting its 2050 emissions target, and the implementation of a National Adaptation Plan.
However, the article says that the country is not keeping in step with its targets and plans and has dropped seven ranks in the Climate Change Performance Index. Even though The Climate Change Response Amendment Act is a legally binding net zero emissions target for 2050, there are no appropriate measures to achieve this target, especially in reducing methane emissions which account for 48% of the country’s emissions.
Recently, the New Zealand government has unveiled plans to tax agricultural emissions. The proposed levy will see New Zealand farmers pay for their emissions by 2025 – an essential step to meeting the country’s low-emissions future and fulfilling its promise to price agriculture emissions from 2025.
Consultation on how the government will set the proposed farm-level emission prices on the said plan began on 11 October. It will run until 18 November 2022 between the government and the agriculture and farming community.
It will ask for feedback from farmers and stakeholders on PM Jacinda Ardern regarding how the proposed farm-level emissions price levy will be set, the governance arrangements of the system, and how farmers and growers will report and pay for their emissions while recognizing sequestration – or the emissions reduction efforts that farmers are already implementing.
Climate change makes extreme weather, such as heavy rains, floods, and droughts, more frequent and intense. Its consequences impact the agriculture and farming sector in the country. Agriculture makes up a massive chunk of the country’s economy and is responsible for almost half of its total emissions, for example, biogenic methane from cow burps and nitrous oxide from using synthetic fertilizers in farming.
When implemented, the agriculture tax will encourage farmers to implement more sustainable and environmentally-friendly farming practices, reducing their emissions – one of New Zealand’s major contributions to climate change.
The IPWEA article notes that while the country’s policies reflect the government’s effort to reduce emissions and tackle climate change, its implementation remains inadequate.
The IPWEA article notes that while the country’s policies reflect the government’s effort to reduce emissions and tackle climate change, its implementation remains inadequate.
Protection of the environment and cultural heritage sites in urban areas strengthens the community’s social well-being, sense of history and belonging, and inclusivity of all people. In addition, traditional knowledge of the Māori people can guide the government’s climate actions.
The article notes that “for hundreds of years, Te Ao Māori has encouraged sustainable and resilient practices, acknowledging the interconnectedness and interrelationship of all living and non-living things. From this, we can learn.”
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