This Climate Business podcast: Facing up to managed retreat – Kelly Flatz (edited excerpt)
Listen to the full episode here.
Ross
"Let's start by framing the topic. What is managed retreat?"
Kelly
“I'm going to give a consultant-related answer and say it really depends who you're talking to. There's no one accepted definition or one dictionary definition of what this is. It’s largely understood as a planned or strategic location of people, infrastructure, and housing away from natural hazard risk. So it's an accepted form of climate change adaptation and a measure we can take to reduce our risk to climate change, essentially.”
Ross
“It's a timely topic because Parliament's Finance and Expenditure Committee released its climate adaptation inquiry in October. Can you tell us about what that committee's job was and what it said?"
Kelly
"The committee's job was to build on the findings from the expert working group. Basically, to give recommendations to the government on what it can do to develop a framework to approach climate change adaptation. Now, adaptation is quite wide-ranging, but this was quite an approach in terms of we know it's going to cost a lot.”
Ross
“So it's almost like the country is at a very early stage of the conversation and we're just framing up the principles for how we approach managed retreat?”
Kelly
“Definitely in the early stages, but probably further along than many other countries. This is quite a new thing to think about, particularly in the context of climate change, the extent to which it's going to change and how we might approach that, both pre-emptively or reactively, or better, both.”
Ross
“When we talk about managed retreat, my mind goes to coastal communities. But it's not just that, right?"
Kelly
"I'd say the biggest risk New Zealand faces, well, you do have earthquakes but it's kind of like a separate one, but flooding and sea level rise and coastal inundation are the two ones. That puts most of New Zealand in that bucket, given we're an island nation. It's a mix of holiday homes, but also own-occupier homes and rentals. Obviously, any type of building and also infrastructure, roads, bridges.”
Ross
“The numbers are intimidating. Two-thirds of New Zealanders live within five kilometers of the coast so a big chunk are at risk presumably? And with one metre of seal level rise, 117,000 buildings will be at risk?"
Kelly
“There are parts of New Zealand that will not exist in the next 100 years. And we know that now. And we can do something about it today.”
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