Adapting to New Zealand’s Dynamic Coastal Hazards Other Publication
- Author
- M. Dickson, R. Bell et al
- Year
- 2019
- Pages
- 13
- Summary
- The Coastal theme will resolve fundamental science and policy questions faced by coastal communities around Aotearoa-New Zealand (NZ) regarding uncertain coastal hazard futures. Future sea-level rise (SLR) is inevitable, and while the rate of change is uncertain, there will undoubtedly be progressive increases in the intensity of extreme erosion and flooding events, and a succession of more frequent nuisance events. The 'slow onset' risk that results from the changing and cumulative impacts of long-term coastal exposure represents a profound challenge for coastal communities and managers. In directly addressing this challenge the Coastal theme is distinct from other themes within RNC that largely focus on major events or shocks. In 2018 we held an extensive series of stakeholder workshops around NZ. We identified knowledge gaps and found that despite new guidance on coastal hazards and climate change [1], councils are limited by fragmented, inconsistent shoreline change data and remain embedded in practices that focus on disaster events. This means they cannot adequately implement coastal adaptation decision making in the face of irreversible SLR.